Skip to main content

Grass Paths and Persistent Prayer

Jesus told them a parable
about their need to pray always
and not to lose heart.


 Early African converts to Christianity were sincere and regular in private devotions, praying and reading scripture. Each convert had a separate spot in a grove to pour out their heart to God. 

Eventually the paths to the groves became well worn. 

So, if one of these converts began to neglect prayer, others soon noticed. Other converters would kindly remind the careless one, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”

Each Sunday as I listen to people lift their prayer requests asking God to change something, a sickness or a situation, I notice some of the prayer requests are repeated week after week.

This persistence prayer request carries a sense of hope within it.

Forgetting that God hears and answers prayer in God’s ways and God’s time, grass may begin to grow on the path.

It’s then that a sense of hopelessness can set in.

It’s time to begin walking the path to their grove again and pouring out their sense of hopelessness to God knowing God hears and answers in way most beneficial to the convert.

Beginning to walk the path to the grove again, people long for refreshing words of encouragement while seeking a new hopeful life.

Turning to God in prayer is all it takes for this new and hopeful life.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grantchester's Warning

"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, the owner would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (from Luke 12:32-40 ) I regularly watch Grantchester; a murder mystery set in 1950s England. The main characters are a local detective and an Anglican priest who, as a team, solve mysteries set in the town. Two aspects of Grantchester impress me. First, the simplicity of the 1950’s police communications done by a landline phone and not cell phone. Second, the simplicity of daily life with little television and fewer possessions allowing the characters to focus on their vocation of detective and priest. This simplicity is more than a nostalgic return to the “good old days”. Instead, it’s a Shaker type of simplicity where austerity allows freedom from distractions to focus on worship and community. Today’s distraction-filled world has seemingly countless activ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus’ Rules of Hospitality

“Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you.” (from Luke 10:1-11 ) There’s a true story of a seminary professor who asked a class to imagine the most challenging part of accompanying the 70 on their mission journey. Most of the responses were predictable: no money, no change of clothes, no food, depending on strangers. One student said, “Eat what is set before you.” The student explained that his father was a pastor in a very rural, poor part of South Dakota and often invited to dinner mostly by farmers. On remote farms people often relied on whatever they could kill or catch, such as squirrels , rabbits, and other wild creatures, even for guests so the father instructed the family to eat what was set before them. He added, “We just never knew what we would have to eat.” If you search Luke, you’ll find that Jesus often attends a meal, but never gives a dinner party. In Jesus’ rules of hospitality, being a respectful recipient by grac...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Ancient Legend of Mary & Martha

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things,  but few things are needed—indeed only one.  Mary has chosen the better part,  which will not be taken away from her.” ( from Luke 10:38-42 ) There’s a famous legend about Martha told after Jesus’s resurrection. Martha becomes a traveling preacher ending up in a small French that, unfortunately, has a chronic dragon problem. Martha slays the dragon which wins the whole town over to Christianity. In the same legend, Mary, on that same trip, starts a monastery in the wilderness. In this legend, they both complete their assigned roles in Christian history: Martha acts and Mary studies. Martha represents an active faith, while Mary represents a contemplative faith. Martha shows Jesus hospitality while Mary sits at his feet listening. They represent different parts of Christian discipleship and both are seen as positive characters. They are both doing good things. There is no villain in this story. T...
Post a Comment
Read more