Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear friend,

I've been on a classic country kick again, enjoying Dolly, Loretta, Emmylou, Merle and Waylon, you know! There have been few times in the past 15 years when these folks were not in my musical rotation.  A song came on with which I am not familiar this week, and its sentiment has stuck with me. I can't find it online now that I am searching for the lyrics, and I probably wouldn't wholeheartedly jump back into the lyrics if I heard it again, it was the main point that got across upon first listen that has gotten stuck in my head. What it seemed to say was "you don't know when she was praying, but look out for the ways your Momma's prayers surrounded you." It's not quite as eloquent as one of the crooners could express, but the power of that statement cuts through. Throughout our lives we pray for one another, and in special relationships like that of a parent, godparent, aunt, uncle, family friend, church community, those prayers become a part of our lives long term.

It was not until I was in my twenties that it dawned on me that my Godparents had prayed for me in their personal prayers for just as many years as I had been alive. And it wasn't until her toast to us the night before our wedding that my husband's Mom, Jill, told us that she had been praying for her son since before he was born, and that she started praying when he got older that he would find his beloved. On that precipice of our new relationship it was the best gift she could have given. If I thought about it, I imagine I could have figured it out, that these important parents and godparents had been praying for us, but without that special note on a birthday or that night's toast, it may just not have occurred to me!

Sometimes family situations are tricky, and perhaps your only relationship with someone is through prayer, or perhaps you have been praying for a particular cousin or friend for all these years in between the phone calls and visits. If it's a relationship where it seems possible, I wonder what the reaction of the heart of the other person would be, knowing that they are lifted up in the light of Christ, held in your heart, your desire for their health and wholeness known. There are notable times in life when we share this reality, but I wonder what it would be like to share it more freely, more vulnerably. Intercessory prayer that we pray together on in worship, or that we pray in private, is a gift to the other person, and is a trusting offering and plea to God. Knowing that our companions are praying for us in all of the daily stuff of life may add a layer of trust and hope to that daily life we share, buoying u. 

In Christ,
Taylor+