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We love to make lists. Be they shopping lists, Christmas wish lists, bucket lists, or future vacation lists, we are always making lists.
They help to illustrate and organize thoughts and plans in our minds. They also aid us as reminders. We are less likely to forget something if it’s “on the list”.
‘I’ll pray for you’
A lot of people we know are going through challenges. You know what they are; I’ll spare you a hypothetical list.Whether expressed verbally or in our minds, we say we’ll pray for these people.
Chances are we forgot to pray for these people. We probably put more thought and effort into wanting to pray for these people rather than actually praying for them. Maybe we should have written it on a list.
Hey, there’s an idea!
Keep a list of all of the people and things we need to pray for.
I know a lot of people out there do this now, and that’s great. Be a shining example to all of us lazy prayer warriors.
If you already make some sort of lists in your life, you’re halfway to succeeding at this task.
If you’re not a list-maker, now is a great time to start, especially ahead of “the holidays”.
It’s very simple. Either via pen and paper (ha ha ha), electronic device, or whatever will help YOU keep a list, do it.
Keep an ongoing list of what and who needs to be prayed for.
Refer to it often. Refer to it at the start or end of your day.
Grow your prayer life
The more you keep this list updated, the more you will grow in love and sacrifice for your neighbor.
Your prayer life will become less about you and more about those around you.
It will also keep your prayer life strong as you’ll build the habit of praying, knowing you’re doing it for others who need help.
If you keep the same list for a while, or do something like transfer it over to newer paper, you can see the progress of your prayer.
While you’ll never really know what effects your prayer has on who or what you are praying for, you still may see God’s hand in it all.
Before you take something off of the list, hopefully for a good reason, you can say a prayer of thanksgiving that the prayer was answered.
On a note of caution, the more your list grows, the more easy it will be to be overwhelmed by it.
If you can’t handle 25, 50, or 100 intentions, then don’t do that.
Find ways to prioritize the important intentions and offer more things up to God, or through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
But, if you’re a suffering soul that is willing to take on these burdens, God bless you, and pray for all of us as we trudge on through the rest of 2020 and beyond.
Have a blessed Advent season!