Big Picture prayers

"Lord, teach me to love, give me love, show me your face, send your Spirit out over me."
Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen, "The is the Day the Lord Has Made"

In this reflection today, Fr. Stinissen talks about how our prayers begin to grow and mature as we journey with Jesus. We may start out praying for things, security, friends, a spouse. But, gradually, our prayer deepens and we pray for what we REALLY need...God. Interestingly, I have noticed that gradual change (and I mean very gradual!) I do find, while praying for others, I tend to lift them up to God's care and I pray more for God's will in their lives, not necessarily what they think they want to happen. My prayers are becoming more general, less specific. I find myself praying for peace in a situation, rather than praying that this will happen or that will happen. Maybe I'm praying more Big Picture prayers these days. I don't know the Big Picture--God does. God knows so much more than I do and I'm much better off praying for God's will than my own. Is that maturity in prayer? Possibly. I am beginning to realize that when God is in the middle of something, I feel more peace about it. I also remember Mary's example of how to turn to Jesus for intercessory prayer. Mary simply identified the problem, "They have no wine." (John 2:3). She didn't give him suggestions of how to fix it; she just trusted Jesus would fix it and fix it well! Today, let's think about how our prayers are growing as our faith grows. Love, heidi