>that came out wrong…

>I am watching my back.


Last week Sally and I went for a walk together. Just us. The children were away. We were walking along a path beside a field. A lady was walking her dog ahead of us.


Out of the blue Sally said, “When I am on my own, I think I will get a dog.”



I was not upset at the idea of Sally getting a dog. I like the idea that there will be a canine to look after her and to be company if she ends up on her own. I was rather alarmed, though, that she began the sentence with the definite ‘when’ rather than a provisional ‘if’!!!


I think I responded along the lines of, “What have you got planned for me?” 


I wanted to know WHAT it will be that takes me out of the picture. Do I have to be careful walking down dark alleyways? Has she taken a contract out on me? Does she have plans for my life insurance? 


I was also very keen to know WHEN this will take place? Should I be making plans for Christmas this year or is it not worth bothering? Will I reach retirement age?


It was, Sally assures me, a sentence that came out the wrong way. I know that this is true, it was something that made us both laugh quite hard. (But why was Sally’s laugh like a pantomime villain: ‘mwah ha ha ha hah!’?)


One of the things that reassures me about my relationship with God is that he knows me better than I know Sally… better than I know myself. Because his Spirit is an integral part of my life I know that even if (or when) my prayers don’t come out as I intended, or if (or when) I can’t find words to express myself, the Spirit of God interprets my inner emotions as prayers in the presence of my Heavenly Father.


Even before I have articulated a prayer, it has been expressed in God’s presence!


That frees me from having to come up with ‘good’ prayers or prayers that are always theologically perfect. It allows me to be entirely honest with God – after all he knows the truth – so I can express doubt, anger, frustration, anxiety, repentance, a need for help and many other aspects of my faith and life. It also means that I can use words to praise, thank, worship, adore, and reflect how awestruck I am by God without worrying that they are inadequate.


God knows.


Thank God.


The Minister’s prayer:
Minister’s prayer “May the members of my congregation be as free with their money as they are with their advice, and may their minds be open as their mouths”.


The boy’s prayer:
Two boys who lived with their Grandma. They were about to go to bed but before they slept they prayed. The older son started to pray. He prayed about the day he had and about everything he had done. The younger son then started to pray, he prayed much louder than his elder brother, he prayed for bikes and toys, and when he finished the older brother asked him “God knows what you want. Why are you praying so loud? God is not deaf. “


The younger son responded and said ” Yeah but Grandma is”