dai;y java

Daily Java: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Again, it is 4:30 in the morning. I woke up disagreeing with the sleep mask. It makes these little squirting noises where the air comes out from under it and I cannot set it right. After a while, I begin to fight it and there goes the night. It is just easier to get up.

4:30 is too early to get up. You can’t do anything at this hour. None of the websites are updated this early, we don’t have cable TV, I’m sure not hungry. What do you do?

Some of my best praying and studying are done at this time of the morning, but I do not enjoy it. I enjoy sleeping at this time of the morning, personally. (I wonder how you sleep impersonally?) It just isn’t fun.

This time of the morning you tend to think about stuff you don’t want to think about. Finances is top on the list. Relationships come in there also, as does the church and problems there. Since our van is broken right now, it tends to be part of the mix also. In general, you think about everything you don’t want to think about.

That is why the prayer matters so much. God really does care about what bothers you. He after all made you and wants that connection with you.

It is hard to imagine the God of the universe caring about whether or not you can sleep, but he does. It is not that he will put you back to sleep necessarily, but it is part of the sharing process we have with a friend.

Sometimes it is just the sharing of the problems that will help, casting your anxieties in his direction. It is not that he will do anything with them, but you have a place to get them off your chest. And you tell them to someone who loves you and cares.

Prayer is often made up into this great exalted talking and beseeching and stuff, when all it really should be is communication. You are just talking to someone. Of course, that someone happens to be God, but it is just talking.

And telling him what is hurting you is what he wants you to do.

My friend, I need you help with the things that are on my mind. I need you to deal with them and help me find a way to resolve them. Only you can solve these problems.

And then we tell him. We tell him of the people who have hurt us and the people we have hurt and wish we hadn’t. We tell him of the pain in our hands and the fact that the sleep mask doesn’t work. We tell him of the financial problems we are having and the physical problems and the spiritual problems and the job problems and the family problems. We tell him of the disappointments and the failures. We tell him of the successes. We just tell him.

Prayer is not in the position – kneeling right, closing your eyes, clasping your hands, bowing your head at the right angle. Those are peripherals and may or may not be relevant. I personally do not pray like that.

Prayer is from the heart: your heart responding to his heart, a child coming in to talk to his father. You are not a baby anymore and he is not some guy in a smoking jacket you get maybe 10 minutes a day with when the governess brings you in. He is your Father, your Friend, your Confidant, your Comforter, your Counselor. You tend to capitalize all those because he is also your God and your Creator, but it does not lessen his desire to know you and to hear your problems.

And the God of the universe, no matter how great he is – and he is great – wants to hear from you. What’s more, he is disappointed when he doesn’t, just like we are disappointed when our kids ignore us.

I don’t know. I feel just a little sleepy. Maybe I will go back to bed for a while.

Thank you, Lord, for caring about me. I’m alive and doing fine.

And BTW, I love you.