It all started when I just recently went to the nursing home, with my grandma, a friend and her mom to bring the joy of Christmas, like snow white snow. The afternoon was going very swell, and the patients were really enjoying their visitation dwells. Nap time was present and a few were awake, but the majority of patients were dreaming of sugar plums dancing in their heads and aches. The clock was a ticking and the time would soon come, but we still had a few days till the Christmas day would have begun.
The old little man whose wife just died, who would’ve known he lived nearby. Or the slowly crippling woman, as sweet as a peach, would be related to little old me. And the smiling sisters that we see every time, who send a wave and say thank you before we go on our way. Each in their kindness, humility, and peace, all they ask for is a prayer please. Their families, their children, their uncles and aunts, but rarely who? Themselves.
So easy to listen and act like you care. To nod your head simultaneously when you have no clue what in the world they just said. The mumbles, the voices, the cries and the pleas, all they really want is someone to see. That they too are humans with feelings and thoughts, they just might need a little extra care or time brought.
Hence true I have realized that it means one thing to act, but therefore completely accurate to really walk the talk you have quacked. It didn’t really occur to me that I too could be the blame, of the so called listener, only really not knowing what to say. “I’ll pray for you” has too easily been proclaimed, time and time, and I at fault with no one to blame but honestly myself.
There was a woman at the nursing home who mentioned this to me. Not literally or figuratively, but by asking me to pray. She had to use a breathing machine, so her thoughts were mumbled and spurred, yet I could distinctly make out her poor request of words. Asking me to pray for her children, or her children’s children, that of which I’m not quite sure, I simply nodded my head and said, “Yes, I sure will”.
Later that night when I had arrived back home, I didn’t think a clue. The many patients asked me to pray for them, and I didn’t remember to. As I laid in bed that night, saying my nightly prayers, I realized what people meant by, to really say what you will do. So God put on my heart the title of this work, “I’ll say a prayer for you”, perhaps to remind me that our words must align with the actions we will brew.
And yes I’ve now prayed for those people, the ones that asked me to. But how many people have you said, “I’ll say a little prayer for you” to? I find that the problem we have is not taking the time, for of course we are all too busy making the climb of life. Maybe if we would take the time to realize that we really do need to care, we would learn to truly value others above ourselves when we promise to say that prayer.
So next time someone asks you to pray for them, or the phrase simply slips out of your mouth, make sure you really take the time, to value their requisition as a dire need, not a doubt. Write down what they ask you to pray for and if you’re not sure what they said, go over to clarify.
Like the woman at the nursing home, I should have made sure I understood, but I was too busy trying to nod my head and act like I would. I’m almost certain we all do it, and we really mean no harm; trying to make others feel better, by letting them know we could lend them a hand or an arm. Yet if we don’t do what we say we will do, then really what’s the point? A simple prayer you said you’d say but never really did, is as pointless as a bid you made on things you’d never bid.
Now I’m not one for rhymes and games, but that is just how the claims of this article ended up turning out. Amidst the smiling, rhyming theme, I hope you get the point, we have all made the promise to pray and never let it play. I start my change today, this hour, to rearrange from what I say. To really do what I should do as God would want me to. Make that prayer, and write it down or listen when they stutter, for it should not matter what they say, if you say you’ll pray and only mutter.
Words Can Shatter Silence 