Good Morning,

I hesitated to write this one as some are upset by spiritual messages. This writing comes from the too often heard words “I’ll pray for you”. 

Believe me, I am not against prayer. Far from it. It comes from what seems, too often, to be idle words with no real action. It is if they are really saying “I have done my part and can now forget the whole thing”.

In my view, prayer must come with action. We, most likely, will not be able to provide some large magic cure. We are not asked to do this. We may be praying for the homeless and following it with donating to a food pantry. We may be simply following up with someone and asking them how they are doing. We may be offering a helping hand. We may be praying for divine guidance, listening to it, and taking action on what we hear.  Most of the time it is not telling them what they need to do to improve the situation. It is showing by both words and action that we are sincere, that we care.

A simple prayer might be:  “Lord, I pray for this situation or this person and the needs. Please provide them the strength and help me to understand your will for me in the situation including if and how I might be of help.”

Be sincere when you say "I'll pray for you" and have a great week.

Jim