All the Little Things
By Susan Klein
“Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares about you.”
1 Peter 5:7 (RSV)
While engaged in
conversation with a close friend, she shared that she had accepted a request
for her services that she was now regretting. Her plate was more full than
she’d realized and adding one more thing was bringing her stress. I asked if
she had prayed about it before accepting, to which she replied, “No. It was
something very simple that I knew I could do and didn’t feel it warranted
prayer.”
I’ve recently come
to ponder this aspect of prayer. While my friend was certainly capable of accomplishing
this simple task, what if God had wanted to spare her the stress He knew it
would bring at that particular time in her life? What if He had already been
preparing someone else’s heart to say “yes” to the request? Might He have somehow
revealed this to her through prayer?
We all amble through
our days making countless decisions without first praying. We don’t typically pray
about what to eat for breakfast or which clothes to wear for the day. Praying
beforehand may likely double the time it takes to accomplish each task. So how
do we know which tasks to pray about?
This passage has
become my standard for prayer. “Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And
the peace of God, which transcends
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
(Philippians 4:5-7, emphasis added).
That “peace” part
really grabs me! If we know a task has even the slightest potential for
anxiety, we ought to pray before giving ascent. Conversely, if we’re feeling
stressed, it might be a likely indicator that we should have sought God’s
counsel first. Perhaps it’s a simple matter of just praying over our day’s
to-do list so we don’t stress or miss out on God’s plans for us.
Just this morning, I
searched at length for a recipe I couldn’t find. Not knowing if I should
continue the fruitless pursuit or give up, I stopped and asked God for help, even
in this seemingly insignificant matter. I wanted to be able to glorify Him and
not be anxious. He answered my prayer and replaced my anxiety with His peace. Nothing
is too insignificant to God!
While He doesn’t
always answer our prayers immediately, God surely delights in our asking, knowing
that we’re choosing to trust Him and keep Him involved in all the little things
in our life. And… there’s just no substitute for His peace!
GOING
DEEPER:
Don’t have time for stress? Make
time for prayer.
FURTHER
READING:
Susan is married to Mark, and
has two adult children. She enjoys teaching Bible studies, writing, and
tutoring with the Literacy Council. She is a member of the Peace Team at
Oakwood and also co-leads a small group.
