A couple of weekends back, me, my husband and my brother built a fence from scratch. It was a fun project and at the end we had a well built, professional looking fence and none of ended up in A&E (but only just).
Our first feeling was happiness, then surprise that it had gone so well, without a hitch or any frustrations. Then we felt slightly sad. Sad that we felt suprised.
We all noted that our surprise at it going well was because so often we expect things to go wrong. We expect difficulties, problems, that our plans will fail, that things will be hard. How often do we think, or say, “Things never go right for me!”
It is easy to get sucked in to a pattern of expecting things to go wrong and then on those odd occasions that things do not match our plans and expectations we take it as a personal attack. “Why God? Why always me!!”
But how likely is it that God sets things in motion simply to annoy you? Are you really that special? Is the car accident that caused the mile long traffic jam that you got stuck in all designed to upset you?
Let us go to God in prayer;
Heavenly Parent, so often we focus on the things that appear to go wrong, we create narratives around these occasions, falling in to the trap of thinking the world is out to get us. Remind us that the world is a complex place of interlinking situations, working together to create our reality and sometimes our plans and expectations do not match what happens. Remind us Lord, that’s okay. Things can go differently, things can be different and that’s okay.
Lord Jesus, help us this week to switch our thinking from expecting the worst to seeing the best in everything that is happening. Help us this week to start paying attention to all the wonderful good things that happen in our lives, starting with the simple, the food we have access to, the miracles that are our bodies, our cosy homes, the beds that we sleep in night after night. Even things that annoy us, like rain or wasps, serve a vital purpose.
Holy Spirit, this week fill us with the confidence and energy needed to have faith in ourselves, faith in our skills, faith in our abilities to handle any situation. You are always with us giving us just what we need in any given moment. If we put our belief in you, then we never have to doubt ourselves again, we never have to expect the worst. This week we can build fences, lay patios, fit new car tyres. We can make jam, sew dresses and handle every meeting at work.
Holy God, we pray now to start this week full of joy, full of the expectation of the countless blessings that are to come our way. As we stand before you now, in your Holy presence, we are truly blessed and in receipt of all we need for the week ahead.
In that promise, we rejoice!
Amen!
The Unexpected Prayer 