Dada’s Prayers: Part 5 (Fourteen Months Old)

Spring Prayers: Prayers for Growth

As spring arrives with Easter, wild flowers, and splashing in puddles, we look forward to a season of change and growth with David. He’s changing all the time and I swear he grew another inch or two in the last week. He’s really tall and Heather and I have no idea where he gets it from (maybe my dad, maybe Heather’s grandpa).

So, spring is a time a growth, of renewal, of hope. I know this may be foolish, I know this may be the spiritual equivalent of Charlie Brown taking another try at kicking the football, but I can’t help but be hopeful. It’s not just the vaccine finally being available to those who need it. It’s not just our state starting to open back up again. It’s just a ineffable feeling that maybe God is about to do something amazing in our midst. It’s been only a year since the world has been changed by COVID 19, but it feels like a decade. So much has changed in the world, as I mentioned before about David, so much has changed in our family.

Here’s the point and here’s my prayer.

Father, may we never numb ourselves to the hopeful renewal of spring. Though there’s been a deep winter of our global soul, may hope blossom in unexpected places, like wildflowers on the side of the road and in ditches and in between rocks and thorns. May we believe that the resurrection of Jesus is not just a story, but the story of our shared redemption, the story of our collective restoration. Let us find joy in the smallest of things, little fingers and toes of a baby, dandelions waving in the wind, lady bugs landing on our shoulder. Let us trust you with all the big things of our world, the pain, disease and injustice that plague and suffocate us. Let us not let these realities overwhelm or discourage us; instead, let us stand firm by faith.

I pray in particular for all the children of the world, who didn’t get to hug and play with as many friends as they did the year before. I pray for the parents that feel painfully guilty for all the experiences their kids missed out on. Teach us to trust that you hold our most precious little ones in your hands and you have a plan for their good, to prosper them, to give them a hope and a future.

Finally, Father, teach us to be patient. Let us not rush to reclaim what was lost and forget what has been found in this last year. May we never forget the special and intimate time shared around a dinner table as a family. May we never forget the virtual game nights and birthday parades. May we never forget the first hug of a loved one after a long quarantine. May we never forget that you, O Lord, walked through this valley of darkness, through this wilderness experience. So, Lord, may we walk just as closely with you in the hopeful joy of spring as we did in the dreary and bleak season of winter. May our present prosperity never diminish our desperate dependence on you, that we humans don’t live on bread alone, but on your very Word. Amen.