Prayer Pictures

Dear Friend,

Tomorrow we head home from camp. We’ll have a full car with our family of four plus two friends—one each for Heidi and Lincoln. We’ve enjoyed being here. The time has flown by, but I’ll be ready to hit the road and begin the adventures of another school year.

This session has been so different from my first two weeks at camp. My prayer time (literally time) has completely changed. The 4 a.m. wakings I learned to enjoy earlier in the summer have been replaced by equally rewarding middle of the night prayer moments. I’m learning to be grateful for the prayers God gives me at whatever time and in whatever form they come.

One morning before coming to camp, my prayers came to me as pictures; not just metaphors but mental images—almost like photographs or short video clips. There was one for each member of my family—Michael, Heidi and Lincoln. In the “photos” they had big smiles on their faces as they engaged in various new activities, confidently radiating qualities that I had been cherishing as inseparable from their experience—qualities such as individuality, grace, courage, friendship. I even had a prayer picture for our pets. I was seeking assurance that they would be happy while we were gone. The “snapshot” included all four animals together on our living room floor sitting contentedly at the feet of our house-sitter—the dogs panting; the cats swishing their tails.

During “alone with your thoughts time” my first week at camp, I realized I didn’t have a prayer picture for myself and asked God for one. I saw myself as a soaring bird looking down on everything going on below. This picture has been a reminder throughout camp to look at things from a higher, spiritual perspective, to let God’s thoughts lift me above the fray.

I have returned to these mental pictures over and over again in my daily prayers for my self and family. They remain vivid reminders that our perspectives and being come from and reflect God. Sometimes prayers come as hymns or favorite Bible verses or perhaps as simple affirmations of God’s Allness. Sometimes I mentally reason or ponder spiritual facts as they relate to day-to-day events. But I’ve come to look forward to and especially enjoy the prayer pictures. They feel so new and refreshing to me. I can’t wait until God sends another my way.

Happy August!

Much love,
Maria