Prayer...

I've been thinking a lot about prayer lately. It started at Urbana, with Sunder Krishnan sharing about it during one of the evening plenary sessions. (You can watch his talk here). Then, I went to the KCF Leaders Visioning Weekend this past weekend and all of us agreed that we haven't been praying enough. Finally, I started reading this book, since it was one of the books of the day at Urbana and I want to learn more about becoming the answer to my prayers.

And so, the same theme that comes up again and again is this: I might not be able to change the circumstances around me through prayer, but prayer changes me. It's been a different approach to have while praying, because most of the time, I want my circumstances to change, not me.

This idea has come up in many conversations that I have had with friends, students, and supporters over the past few weeks. And for the first time in a long time, I can say that I have experienced this.

Some of the circumstances in my life aren't changing anytime soon. I still find it hard to love those who are hard to love; I still find it hard to love those who have hurt me. Yet, as I pray for myself and for these people, I want to pray more on their behalf. I naturally pray more for myself too, that I may approach each situation with the attitude that Jesus does.

Maybe that's the way we experience forgiveness and reconciliation, through prayer and some more prayer.