Praying for vs. Praying about

I’ve lived long enough to be grateful to God for not answering all my prayers. Jobs I’ve applied for. Regions of the country where I thought I wanted to live. All grist for my asking, yet requests denied. And looking back, thank God!

I believe God wants us sometimes to pray vigorously for things. We are told to ask, to intercede, to come to God with our petitions. It’s an expression of our loving dependence on him to turn to God and seek his help. Even specific help. 

But contemplative writer Macrina Wiederkehr makes a distinction between praying for the things she needs, and praying about them.

“When I pray for something,” she writes, “I put [narrow] expectations on God. I expect something definite to happen and I am disappointed if it doesn’t happen. … But when I pray about something I am putting [some] expectations on myself. I focus on the presence of God in my specific problem and we look at it together, God and I.” It’s a way of praying that asks what I can do, too. 

Even if it’s hard. Even if we hold more loosely what we ask for, and spend more time simply enjoying being in the presence of the One we turn to for help.

photo credit: Amaury Gutirrez on Unsplash