The Priceless Gift of a Tin Box

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2

It was a priceless treasure delivered to me in a small pink gift bag stuffed with white tissue paper in the middle of a parking lot. “It’s a ‘just because’ gift” she said tilting her head as she passed the bag to me. “It’s no big deal, but I thought of you when I saw it and I knew you would use it.” I peeked in the bag and dug through the tissue paper looking for the buried treasure. In the midst of that crinkled white paper nestled deep in the folds, I found a small tin box with flowers and fringe and “prayer box” written on top. A “just because” gift that was more meaningful to me than many “because” of special occasion gifts.

You see my friend knew that prayer was important to me. She knew that if she asked, I would pray for her. She knew that the little box would soon be filled with tiny pieces of paper with the pleas of my heart scribbled on them.

My journey into writing my conversations with God began in college. I have been keeping prayer journals ever since. My problem is I pray and I journal, but then I stop. Then, I start, stop, and start again.  Stacks of semi-filled journals adorn on my bookshelf.

Today’s verses remind me that I need to be more than an on-again, off-again petitioner. I need to be steadfast in my prayers. I need to be unwavering in my commitment to pray on a regular basis for the ongoing needs of those around me. I need to be reliable.  I need to be consistent. I need to make prayer a systematic part of my daily routine.

Not only do I need to make petitioning a regular part of my day, I need to make praise for the answers just as routine. Paul tells us to be “watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Not only should we be interceding, but we should be celebrating God’s answers as well.  For me, this means I need to go back through those written requests and document the answers next to them.

I love that my prayers now have a special place to go. After I scribble my supplications on small pieces of paper, I tuck them in the little tin box where I know they will stay safe until God answers them.
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Things to Ponder: What is one thing you can do today to start being more consistent in your prayer life?
Thank God today for one prayer he has answered. 

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