During date night, Shann asked me an elegant question. In the metaphor of sowing and reaping, he asked what two seeds I am thankful I am planting in my life. The seeds that I need to plant every day for real fruit in my life are devotional prayer and gratitude. Prayer driven by needs and wants always leads me to frustration. “I need my friend to have a baby, I need my friend to be healed of cancer, I need this and that.” A kind of worried longing comes over me when I pray day after day without an answer. Instead, devotional prayer is my adoration of God’s presence, for His essence, not His miracles and blessings. Devotion is trust and delight that God is in the details, He loves and knows me, and I can rest in joy knowing my Heavenly Father is good. I knew my earthly dad would move heaven and earth if he could for me. This brings me tremendous comfort and peace as I pray.  

I had been praying many days for my friend to have a baby and had become more forlorn and discouraged as the time dragged on. I wrestled with God in my closet with tears and frustration. Then I decided to pray differently, I prayed that God would move in her what was needed to be ready for the baby. I asked God to prepare her for motherhood. A few days after I began praying this, she called and said she was pregnant. I wept with such joy and laughed hard to find that in my wrestling times in the closet questioning God why she didn’t have a child, she was already pregnant. The work was already done. I think of this when I have an earnest request or sorrow on my heart. God already knows, He is working all things for good.  

This leads me to my second crucial seed which is gratitude. I don’t know why I abandon gratitude at times in my relationships or in my prayer. It is the most healing seed I can offer other than true prayer. Gratitude is the seed that bears the fruit of joy and love. One of my relationships in my life had begun to become a little distanced and irritating. I wanted to withdraw and close off. Instead, I began to write down all the blessings of this person, all the gifts and attributes I admired. Every time I saw this person, I would give them a hug, look in their eyes and say a few of the ways I loved and appreciated them. Immediately, the relationship bounced back to health and life. How about you? What are the two most important seeds you are sowing today? 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7 

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