Every Monday morning, members of the Guideposts staff gather for prayer fellowship. It’s truly an amazing way to start off the week–I’ve witnessed so many prayers answered as a result of our meetings.
Well, at yesterday’s gathering, Rick Hamlin shared Eleanor Roosevelt’s favorite prayer, something he blogged about back in 2011. The prayer really touched me, so I’d like to share it with you:
“Our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us all seekers after that which we can never fully find, forbid us to be satisfied with what we make of life.
Draw us from base content and set our eyes on far-off goals. Keep us at tasks too hard for us that we may be driven to thee for strength.
Deliver us from fretfulness and self-pitying. Make us sure of the good we cannot see and of the hidden good in the world.
Open our eyes to simple beauty all around us and our hearts to the loveliness men hide from us because we do not try to understand them.
Save us from ourselves and show us a vision of a world made new.”
Eleanor Roosevelt prayed it every evening. What a wonderful way to bid adieu to the day and prepare oneself for a new day brimming with possibilities.
What struck me was how bold the prayer is in asking for eyes of wonder: “Make us sure of the good we cannot see and of the hidden good in the world.”
I’ll admit, sometimes I feel a little bit guilty for trying make sense of God’s miraculous universe–shouldn’t I just accept life as it is? Is it wrong to be so nosy about God’s complex workings and plans?
But, after reading this prayer, I’ve come to the conclusion that God expects and can handle my wonderings, my inquisitiveness, my head-scratching questions. After all, he’s placed “a restlessness in our hearts” that “forbids us to be satisfied with what we make of life,” encouraging us to find the goodness hidden in everything.
So, as I go on with my week, I’m going to ask God to help me really see him working behind the scenes. To follow that curiosity he’s placed in my heart. To dare to wonder.
Do you have a favorite prayer that reminds you to stay alert to God’s wondrous ways? Share it below!
