Drip…Drip…Drip (My 3 Point Prayer)

Do you have any leaky faucets at your house? We had several, but one of the most annoying is also the one that taught me an important lesson last year. I’ll get to that, but let’s talk about this faucet. It was an outdoor faucet on the side of our house, so we rarely saw it, and kept forgetting that it was dripping.

We were reminded everytime we went over there, though, as the area around that faucet was always soaked. We tried several attempts to “fix” that. Once, I hooked up a water hose and hung it up high, hoping the pressure in the line could not overcome the additional few feet of head I could create, but to no avail. (non-engineering translation: I hoped it couldn’t push the water out if the nozzle was up high.) I also tried running that hose to an area that needed water, but it was always in the way. Then I tried to put something under the drip that would catch the water and let it evaporate, but especially in the winter, the evaporation couldn’t keep up with the drip.

Finally, we put concrete on that side of the house, not to solve the drip problem, but I thought thatwould be the end of it. The drip was hitting concrete, one drop every 5-10 seconds. It doesn’t sound like much, but about a year after we installed the concrete, I noticed something, the drip was eroding the concrete where it continually hit. Not much yet, but I could see it starting. Each drop was small and had no impact on the hard concrete below. However, the cumulative effect over many months was that the water drops were wearing away the concrete. Think in terms of stream erosion, and how it moves even hard rock over the course of thousands of years. I was already envisioning the Grand Canyon in my concrete so I did what I should have done two years earlier, I replaced the faucet, and therefore the faulty valve that was allowing the drip in the first place. But this was not before I learned my lesson. For that we have to tell another story.

3 Point Prayer:

OK, I should point out right off the bat, that this is not a post about basketball. It’s a post about prayer, and how bad I am at it. I’ve worked on and off my whole life at many different spiritual disciplines, and prayer is by far the one that is the most difficult.

Several years ago, when our middle child wanted us to lie beside him as he calmed down and went to sleep, I decided that was a great time to pray for our kids. But much like any other time I’ve tried to pray while laying down, I mostly fell asleep. I really wanted to do this, but my brain couldn’t focus for very long.

I decided I needed to narrow down what was happening in my head and stick to a few distinct ideas. Over a few nights, this evolved into three recurring themes. Each night I would pray about these areas and it seemed to work, until I realized that I was basically saying the same thing every time. I’ve always railed against wrote prayers that lose their meaning, because you can say them without really thinking about what you’re saying. But it was working for me, in that I was consistently praying for my kids, and praying the things that I really wanted to say.

It was during the months ahead where I was wrestling with the pros and cons of this seemingly shallow prayer life that I had my brilliant confluence of engineering, nature, and spiritual insight.

Did you see it too?

What I heard in my head was this. One simple prayer, repeated over and over and over. Once a day, every day, for many years. Would that be the modern-day equivalent of the persistent widow? I realize that she was crying out for justice, but won’t a gracious Father be moved when one of his children cry out to him day after day. I hope so. Actually, I’m counting on it.

When I made this connection, I was buoyed with the feeling that a repetitive prayer was not only reasonable, but maybe even more effective and preferred in this instance. I have since continued to offer this same prayer on numerous nights, both while lying down on their beds and at other times. When I’m really tired, but the Spirit pricks my soul to pray for my kids, I might just tell God, “You know, the same three things. Amen.” I don’t know how much weight that holds with Him, but I figure I’m not passing up any opportunity to add another drop of water to the tally.

Now, if you’ve actually read this far, you may be wondering, what is the prayer? What are Eric’s magical three points that will change the course of life for his kids and possibly the world? Well, sorry to disappoint, but my three ideas are not that original. However, it boils down to the basics of what I want for my kids. The prayer I pray for them is this:

1. That God would call each of them to Himself, through his Son, Jesus Christ, and that they would respond to that call by following after Him all of their lives, falling deeply in love with Jesus.

2. That God would give each of them a purpose for their life, and that they would know that purpose and pursue it with all of their heart.

3. That if they are to marry in this life, their future spouse would fall in love with Jesus before they fall in love with my kid.

That’s it. I’ve tried a lot of other things, but for such a weak prayer warrior, this is what I’ve got. I hope the Spirit turns these “groans” into powerful words in the ears of God. Until I know for sure, I’ll be…

Just passing through,

Eric