The moments that make us happy are just as important to God as the ones that make us cry.
My daughter is getting her driver’s license in a little over two weeks. In order for me to feel like she’s road ready, I have made her my personal chauffeur this summer. I have had her do a ton of driving. Since we have been alone in close quarters, we have chatted a lot.
We have always talked a lot, but our conversations during the school year tend to be about all of the stresses in her life and believe me, teenage girls are stressed most of the time. From school, to friends, to boys, there’s rarely peace.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that we have the kind of relationship where we can talk about all of the things that trouble her. I’m always ready and willing to listen to all of her complaints and to offer her advice, but our summer time conversations have been a breath of fresh air.
When we have ridden around this summer, it’s been to do errands or to drive to my parents’ house. There have been no deadlines and very few worries. We have talked about things like our vacation, mission trip, music, movies, her cousins, her birthday, and other happy things. I have truly enjoyed being in a car with her this summer.
I’m sure I will miss it when she gets her license.
As I was thinking about my summer blessing of all of that happy time with her, I began to think about my prayer time.
I’ll have to admit I’m often guilty of spending much of my prayer time asking God for things or complaining, kind of like my teen does during most of the school year. We are supposed to take everything to God in prayer, so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with asking Him for help or talking to Him about our disappointments and heartaches. That is authentic prayer.
But, how often do we just thank Him for an awesome day? How often do we share something with Him that warmed our hearts or made us smile? How often do we just say thanks for a beautiful sunset or for food on our table? I’m guessing He would love to hear about all of the good stuff too. That is also authentic prayer.
Riding around with my teen this summer reminded me that taking all things to God in prayer shouldn’t stop when things are going well for us. He wants to hear about our good days as well as our bad. Perhaps you needed a reminder too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂