Tuesday, October 9, 2007

My Frosted Flakes Prayers

"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." James 4: 3 NIV

I'm hungry. All the time. I suppose that comes with the territory while carrying the little bean!

So, as my pregnant, hungry self reached for the box of Frosted Flakes the other day, I filled my bowl to the top. And, when I say the top, I mean the top. Not one more flake was getting in that bowl. Ahhhhh...I couldn't wait to dig my spoon into that sweet, crunchy goodness. The problem: I still needed to add the milk. Oops! But, this hungry Momma wasn't taking one flake out of that bowl.

My solution: Place one hand over the filled-to-the-rim bowl, holding the cereal down, and slowly add the milk. My mantra: It will all fit...I know it will!

Of course, those precious, craving satisfying flakes started spilling over the edge of my bowl. All over the counter. The milk poured easily into the bowl, down and between all of the flakes. There was plenty of room for it...it was the flakes that made the mess. As I sat thinking about the ridiculousness of this situation, I realized that this was a perfect illustration of my current prayer life. My prayers are overflowing with Frosted Flakes.

Lately, when I turn to God in prayer, I come to Him with a bowl full of sweetened, sugar-coated requests. And I have a bowl full! They are so precious to me...each one. I bargain, deal, and methodically list off the righteous motives behind each petition, and plan to "dig in" as God fulfills my bests, for my life.

What am I finding? God is allowing my deceitful, sugary requests to spill over in all of their ugly excess so that I can see the reality of my heart. He lovingly imparts not the satisfaction of my cravings, but what my soul desperately needs. A quiet evening for time in His word. An encouraging blog post. A struggle that reminds me of my desperate need for His mercy. Grace to respond lovingly to my children. Real nourishment. Life-giving sustenance. Milk.

As I continue to work through this, I am praying that God will change my prayer life. I really, really want it to change. I am confident, that with God's help, it will.

"There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears." Philippians 1:6 .The Message

22 comments:

  1. Sarah, you always have such a mature and different perspective on life. I love reading your blog. I'm serious... tell Jason you're ready to publish a devotional.

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  2. I agree with emilymcd - this was an excellent devotional - you are so good at putting into words what God is placing on your heart. You go girl.

    Oh, and I want my copy signed!! ;-)

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  3. Funny you should post this. I was thinking as I prayed the other day, that my prayers are too full of requests and not enough praise.vjceo

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  4. I am guilty of this too. I am trying to teach my boys the correct way to pray, but much of the time I am praying completely in the flesh.

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  5. What a great post Sarah! I too feel like I'm constantly working on my prayer life & then when I actually do pray it's more centered around what I want vs. the Lord's will. What a great illustration with the Frosted Flakes too...I love pictures like that! Thank you for sharing this.

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  6. I am partial to lucky charms and I am not even pregnant. I have no excuse. I love this, by the way. You have a way of seeing life in a Jesus-filtered view. =)

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  7. I think we've all been there and I hope, I at least, continue to yearn for more, more, more of a full bowl of real meat and less of the sugar coated stuff and milk. So often I find myself telling God that I'm going to pray in a new fashion only to fall right back into that old way of communicating with Him.

    Thanks for reminding me by your great visual to stive to have a richer and fuller prayer life. Trust me, I need it!

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  8. Your blog certainly is a good reminder of how we should pray. Funny how so many of the things we struggle with, are things we know the answers to, but forget after time. I guess that's where the Bible comes into play!

    PS I too think you are a wonderful writer and have such a way at putting things in perspective.

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  9. Great post and an excellent reminder for us all!
    K

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  10. Great post!! Loved your full bowl of frosted flakes illustration.
    I agree with everyone else said, what a great reminder of what our prayers should be.

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  11. Beautiful post today. I can echo your thought processes... It recalls to mind Elisabeth Elliot's words: "God has things to do in our lives that we are not interested in." Thankfully, He comes in, anyway, and manages to get our attention, anyhow.

    Here's another quote for ya...
    "I am not myself when I am all replete with very me." (L'engle)
    And amen to that one, too! In our prayer time, God makes us more "our true selves" - more like Christ, and more concerned with what concerns Him. I don't know about you, but that's a welcome relief to this girl! It's good to know I'm not the only one struggling with such things...

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  12. Fruity Pebbles, here ;-)

    Great post. If you ever do write a devotional book, this would be one to save for it ;-)

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  13. Great post, as always, Sarah. I call those *Santa Claus* prayers. I used to have alot of them, myself. Once I hit rock bottom and my world truly fell apart, I knew I needed more than a Santa Claus prayer to lift me up. It was then, and I almost remember the exact moment, that I realized what my heart truly wanted.

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  14. I love this post. A lot of insight.

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  15. great post, sarah. the connection between your bowl of cereal and your prayer life makes it easy to visualize how our spiritual life can get. thanks for sharing.

    and now i'm going to go have a bowl of cereal. thanks =/

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  16. Love the insight and power of your words here!
    Susan

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  17. It was capn crunch when I was pregnant. :)

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  18. I agree with Sarah. You have the gift of seeing life in a Jesus-filtered view. And because you do, all of us are blessed by you!!!

    This is great!

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  19. Great wisdom! does it come with every bowl of frosted flakes-LOL just kidding, but seriously, this was a great post! thanks for sharing....I really needed this!


    God Bless,
    Amber

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  20. Sarah
    I am in awe of you every moment that I spend here! You are one strong woman! Praise God that He uses every moment, even a Tony the TIger moment!

    Take care
    Jennifer

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  21. Me again! Come on over to Pen of Jen's to see the winners!
    Jennifer

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  22. Love this post Sarah! Interesting how God can use even Corn Flakes to get our attention. :)

    The post also reminded me of Patsy Clairmont stories. Very funny, but retrospective at the same time.

    Keep them coming...

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