I want for me what I want for them

Someone told me of how their spiritual director told them not to pray for others, but to pray only for themselves for an extended period of time. That sounded strange to me and maybe even wrong.

I wondered what lesson the spiritual director meant for that person to learn.

I do ask God to help me treat other people in my life as I should treat them. I want to change some of my habitual responses and I honestly don’t know the best way to proceed with some people some days, so I ask God to help me. But I spend almost all of my time praying for others. I don’t have anything about me on my prayer list.

I’m not sure what I would do if I had to stop praying for others.

I have noticed as I pray for many different people facing many different situations, that what energizes my prayer is my sense of connection to the person. I guess it would be fair to say that I pray for people who are facing things that frighten me, that challenge me, that energize me.

I noticed that there are many people on my prayer list who struggle with depression. Most of them have never spoken of depression, but I recognize their struggle. I call out to God on their behalf. Over the past few months, I have come to recognize that I am praying for myself and my struggles with depression in the person of all these people.

I want for them what I want for me. I want for me what I want for them.

When I pray for a dying person, I want for them what I want for me. When I pray for a person facing knee surgery or radiation treatment, I want for them what I want for me. When I pray for a newly married couple, I want for them what I want for me.

Maybe I have been praying for myself as I see myself in the faces and the lives of others.

This and more of my writings are archived at www.tomdenham.com.