Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Pray for Community

McHenry writes that her prayers before she began prayerwalking centered on just her family. After she began prayerwalking, she became more aware of the world around her and its needs. Her world became bigger as she started prayerwalking.

McHenry details different elements of our community which we can lift up in prayer. She lists things like the police force, the teachers, etc.

I have to confess that I almost never pray for elements in my community. Almost all of my prayer requests, if not all of them, are for my family, friends, or other people I know. I am so self centered that I only think of my little world. I am ashamed to say that if I don't know you personally, than I don't devote much of my thoughts to you.

I know I should be more concerned about the world around me - both internationally and locally. I should mourn for the children starving in Africa, as well as the people suffering locally. But why can't I muster up concern for them? I think it is due to my selfish, self-focused mindset. The only way I can think of to move beyond my self-centeredness is to deliberately pray for people I don't know on a regular basis. Perhaps by doing that, I will begin to become more concerned for other people. Right now I spend no time thinking of people I don't know. Rather than wait for my heart's desire to just magically change, it would probably be more effective to pray first for others, and then hope that raising my awareness of others will raise my actual concerns.

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