37

It was my birthday last Thursday.  We spent the day home doing some projects.  It was also Scott's day off so that was extra special.  The sun was out which I took as a little gift from the Lord!  Scott and the boys made a small cake for us to eat. Both Hudson and Reis had home basketball games that night so I enjoyed going to those as a family.  Every week Scott sends out a journal entry to our church family.  He is very gifted in writing and everyone enjoys hearing from him.  He's doing a series on prayer and I loved how transparent he was in this entry.  I thought I'd share it with you.

This week was my wife’s birthday.  As birthdays go, it’s a meaningful part to give a person you are close to a gift to express to them that you appreciate their life.  Gift giving has never been a strength of mine (not a love language so to speak).  My wife on the other hand loves to give gifts and be creative in what she gives.  Her view is that the giving and receiving of that gift is an expression of care and love.  As you can immediately notice, this has been one of those shall we say…”tension points” in our marriage over the years.  I have had to learn the importance of this to her and she has had to learn to understand it just doesn’t come natural for me.  The primary point of learning for me is to LISTEN for those subtle hints she gives along the way of things that she would enjoy receiving.  I’ve had my share of blunders in this over the years (like the sweater that got returned and the jewelry that doesn’t get worn much…no bitterness here…just reality).  In listening, I’ve learned my wife is very very practical.  She doesn’t like spending money on things that won’t get used or won’t be around for a long time (therefore, things like flowers don’t get purchased very often).  I’ve had to fine tune my listening skills over the years (16.5 years to be exact!)

So, what’s the point in sharing this with you? The point is that it is similar to our  prayer life.  Because I love my wife I want my gifts to her to mean a great deal.  I’ve had to listen in order to accomplish this.  Likewise, each person that prays I believe would say, “I want my prayers to count” or “I want my prayers to work”.  Otherwise you wouldn’t pray.  If you find yourself with that desire in your heart, I submit to you that the best place to turn is God’s Word and learn to listen for what God desires us to pray.

(P.S. – To avoid answering all your questions on Sunday, yes, I did a good job of giving a gift this week.  She had to get it herself but it was exactly what she wanted and it will be used !!)

He and the boys surprised me last week and told me that they voted unanimously that they'd like to get me a nice camera.  ( I guess my hints worked:) I had been talking with a friend about buying her camera that she no longer uses, but didn't feel like it was a good time to spend the money on myself with Christmas coming.  I am very excited to get my gift...its on its way!