Day Seventeen - Calming peace

How many times did the apostle Paul write that he was praying for other people? Rather than spend hours looking for myself, I asked Google. Before I found the answer, I came across a site authored by Kevin Halloran, who advised that we need to rely on mature Christians to guide our prayer life. I agree wholeheartedly. Although the Gospels tell us that Jesus often withdrew to pray, very few of Jesus’ prayers exist. Paul prays in every recorded letter that he wrote. However, as Paul dictated his letters and didn’t have a chance to edit them afterwards, they can be very wordy. For example, Philippians 1:9-11 is an excellent prayer but at fifty-seven words – all in one sentence as currently translated – it is rather long for the sound bite generation.

In Romans 12:12, Paul exhorts us to “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (NRSV). That sinks in – succinct and to the point, but exceedingly difficult to carry out. My personal struggle of those three is “patient in affliction”. My bone marrow cancer has been in remission for almost eight years but every six months I have a blood test that will, one day, show that my bone marrow is not producing blood cells properly and I will face rounds of chemotherapy again. Between the blood samples being taken and the phone call with the result I have about a week of anxiety. Becoming a cancer patient again will mean the world closing in, my days dictated by tests, trips for chemotherapy, weird side effects, debilitating tiredness and me being in control of none of it. No, I am NOT patient in affliction.

Perhaps the answer to my impatience lies in another place where Paul gives advice about prayer: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:6-7 NRSV)

I remember being told that worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere. I checked this on the Internet and discovered it on various posters, sometimes accredited to Emma Bombeck. I tried to confirm that it was she who originally said it and found this: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would have not a single bit of talent left, and could say ‘I used everything you gave me’.”

Perhaps that is my worry – because I’ve been made rudely aware that my life on earth is limited, I need to use all my time and talents wisely and soon, just in case.

Our prayer for today is taken from a hymn by Herman G. Stuempfle Jr:

Through nights of pain and wakefulness, through days when strength runs low,

grant us your gift of patience, Lord, your calming peace to know. Amen

Elaine Kinchin