Thursday, July 24, 2008

Praying About Relationships

I used to worry that God might think I was silly to pray about relationships. One of my earlier blogs (6/5/08) was about “Trivial Prayers.” I often felt that if I couldn’t handle relationships, God would think I was really stupid.

Lately, however, I’ve been visiting one of my new favorite blogs (http://spiritualmotherhood.blogspot.com) and Shelly has been covering Proverbs. It’s amazing how carefully God laid out the way we should treat one another. The majority of the Ten Commandments includes guidelines for what we should not do to or against our neighbor.

With all this in mind, I’ve stopped worrying about praying for help in relationships. This means I ask for his help in everything from how to stay calm while talking on the phone to my bipolar sister, to how to not resent the caregiving tasks I face each day, and how to handle the gossip I heard spread in our community about a nice person the other day. All of this is covered in God’s own guidelines, the Bible and the Commandments. I’ve read the entire Bible several times in the past 30 years, and each time, I find something new in old familiar Books. It’s time for me to go through it again, I think.

Meanwhile, I will try to make it a habit to ask God for help when I am unsure of what to say or do in any relationship matter. He wants us to “play nice” and to lift each other up. He will help us in every way if we just ask for that help.

Please, Father, give me the grace to be gracious.

2 comments:

Shelly said...

You always know just what to say.

Evelyn Mayfield said...

Not true, but thank you for the nice words. Actually, you helped me write tonight's post because of your comment. Thank you!