Expiration date on prayers? (by Jeff Schrembs 2013 All Rights Reserved)
I am thankful that I, as a young man, spent so much time in church. Being able to sing, make friends, and have a spiritual relationship with Brother Richard at Glendale Baptist Church was, and forever is, a blessing.
I love Gospel music. When you combine a soul wrenching song with a true singer the end result is…magic.
I have always loved to sing. I listen to all types of music and always have. My children were all raised knowing all Elvis songs (imagine that!), songs from the 50s through the 1990s, and Opera to Country. Elect tic is the word.
Now my grand daughters are singing Elvis songs (yes I catch them), the soul songs of the 1960s and 70s, country, and Whitney to Adele. They both love to sing and it amazes me how they can’t help but move to the music even when I do catch them they shrug it off and go on. Real music harmonizes with the soul.
My oldest granddaughter often asks me questions about God. About prayers. About Jesus. About love.
God, and Jesus, hold my heart and not in a “preachy” sense but in a personal sense. I am an imperfect man and boy do I have some regrets. Another time…another story.
Back to my oldest granddaughter. She said to me “I don’t mean to be mean grandpa but why isn’t your prayers about (I’ll leave it blank due to the circumstances but you get 4 guesses) answered?”.
The boldness of being 7 years old.
After some thought I asked her if she really wanted to know. She said “yes”. So here is my response:
The point of a prayer is not in the asking but in the faith that words spoken, and contained in the heart/soul, are made vocal and asked of God/Jesus.
I asked her that “when you call your — and — doesn’t answer and you leave a message saying I love you does that make you feel happy or sad?”.
She said “happy that I told — but sad that — didn’t answer”. Honest answer I thought.
So I asked it differently as so “do you think when — heard your voice, and that you loved —-, that it made — happy or sad?”. Happy she said. So I said it is like my prayers. I know that God knows our heart, our mind, our works, and our sins but that it isn’t enough that we give thanks when something good happens or we pray when we want something but that we pray, often, not just for ourselves but for those we love – those in need – and those continents away that we will never see firsthand. To pray is to do so in faith and the words have meaning regardless of when they are received.
She seemed to understand by the way she hugged my shoulder.
Then, with that recently lost front tooth but still beautiful smile, said “so your prayers are like the milk at Walmart”. Bold. Yet confusing.
“What do you mean?”. She said “well when you or mommy goes to Walmart you check the milk to see when it is good”. I said “are you referring to the expiration date?”. She nodded her head (still cute).
Then she said “is there an expiration date on prayers?’. Deep question. And how again is this 7 year old tasking me to come up with answers that have been asked of the wisest men ever to live?
After a period of befuddlement I said “no, there is no expiration date on prayers”. She didn’t understand so I had to take off my “lecture hat” and put on my “first grader hat” (fit snugly).
I told her “do you remember all the times you wanted to ride your bike with training wheels?’. She said “yes”. I then said “and when the training wheels broke you were sad weren’t you because you couldn’t ride?”. Acknowledgement nod.
Then I said ” and when I took the wheels off and pushed you around the cul de sac you were scared but you trusted me right?’. Nod x 3. And then when I let you go and told you just to focus on keeping the front wheel straight and pedal you were scared but you did it right? She said “yes, I know grandpa”. The attention span of the young…gotta love it.
Well, my point is that when you stopped being afraid and did it how did it feel? She said “GREAT”.
And I said “do you think you will remember this when you grow up?’. She said “I can’t forget this”. I said well you may but the point is that one of the reasons why it is great is because of all the times you were scared. All the times you thought you couldn’t.
As I looked down upon her face I was happy to see she got my point, made up of 50 years of wisdom and enough drama for 1,000,000 Oprah and Dr. Phil shows, up until she said “when are we going to get an ice cream?’.
Three dollars and fifty cents later, and a handful of napkins, as I looked at my granddaughters slightly vanilla covered face (with rainbow sprinkles of course) I thought “prayers…they don’t have expiration dates”.
Jeff Schrembs
I love Gospel music. When you combine a soul wrenching song with a true singer the end result is…magic.
I have always loved to sing. I listen to all types of music and always have. My children were all raised knowing all Elvis songs (imagine that!), songs from the 50s through the 1990s, and Opera to Country. Elect tic is the word.
Now my grand daughters are singing Elvis songs (yes I catch them), the soul songs of the 1960s and 70s, country, and Whitney to Adele. They both love to sing and it amazes me how they can’t help but move to the music even when I do catch them they shrug it off and go on. Real music harmonizes with the soul.
My oldest granddaughter often asks me questions about God. About prayers. About Jesus. About love.
God, and Jesus, hold my heart and not in a “preachy” sense but in a personal sense. I am an imperfect man and boy do I have some regrets. Another time…another story.
Back to my oldest granddaughter. She said to me “I don’t mean to be mean grandpa but why isn’t your prayers about (I’ll leave it blank due to the circumstances but you get 4 guesses) answered?”.
The boldness of being 7 years old.
After some thought I asked her if she really wanted to know. She said “yes”. So here is my response:
The point of a prayer is not in the asking but in the faith that words spoken, and contained in the heart/soul, are made vocal and asked of God/Jesus.
I asked her that “when you call your — and — doesn’t answer and you leave a message saying I love you does that make you feel happy or sad?”.
She said “happy that I told — but sad that — didn’t answer”. Honest answer I thought.
So I asked it differently as so “do you think when — heard your voice, and that you loved —-, that it made — happy or sad?”. Happy she said. So I said it is like my prayers. I know that God knows our heart, our mind, our works, and our sins but that it isn’t enough that we give thanks when something good happens or we pray when we want something but that we pray, often, not just for ourselves but for those we love – those in need – and those continents away that we will never see firsthand. To pray is to do so in faith and the words have meaning regardless of when they are received.
She seemed to understand by the way she hugged my shoulder.
Then, with that recently lost front tooth but still beautiful smile, said “so your prayers are like the milk at Walmart”. Bold. Yet confusing.
“What do you mean?”. She said “well when you or mommy goes to Walmart you check the milk to see when it is good”. I said “are you referring to the expiration date?”. She nodded her head (still cute).
Then she said “is there an expiration date on prayers?’. Deep question. And how again is this 7 year old tasking me to come up with answers that have been asked of the wisest men ever to live?
After a period of befuddlement I said “no, there is no expiration date on prayers”. She didn’t understand so I had to take off my “lecture hat” and put on my “first grader hat” (fit snugly).
I told her “do you remember all the times you wanted to ride your bike with training wheels?’. She said “yes”. I then said “and when the training wheels broke you were sad weren’t you because you couldn’t ride?”. Acknowledgement nod.
Then I said ” and when I took the wheels off and pushed you around the cul de sac you were scared but you trusted me right?’. Nod x 3. And then when I let you go and told you just to focus on keeping the front wheel straight and pedal you were scared but you did it right? She said “yes, I know grandpa”. The attention span of the young…gotta love it.
Well, my point is that when you stopped being afraid and did it how did it feel? She said “GREAT”.
And I said “do you think you will remember this when you grow up?’. She said “I can’t forget this”. I said well you may but the point is that one of the reasons why it is great is because of all the times you were scared. All the times you thought you couldn’t.
As I looked down upon her face I was happy to see she got my point, made up of 50 years of wisdom and enough drama for 1,000,000 Oprah and Dr. Phil shows, up until she said “when are we going to get an ice cream?’.
Three dollars and fifty cents later, and a handful of napkins, as I looked at my granddaughters slightly vanilla covered face (with rainbow sprinkles of course) I thought “prayers…they don’t have expiration dates”.
Jeff Schrembs
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