Prayers Are Gifts
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
I love everything about Christmas, but I REALLY love Christmas presents. And I love when I walk by the tree and there are presents under there—the earlier the better. If you look under our tree, you will see (and you can pick out) the different presents. And you know who wrapped them! Some of the presents are just wadded-up paper. Some are weird, tied-up ribbony things with lots of tape. Some of the presents are form-fitting. You know exactly what’s in the package. Some of the presents are hidden inside boxes inside boxes inside boxes (an adventure to unwrap). And some of the presents are wrapped with perfect corners—as if a machine wrapped them—and the least amount of tape possible has been sacrificed for the present. (NOTE: The person who uses the least amount of tape likes to remind everyone how efficient they are.)
Once we unwrap the gifts, after we laugh a little bit maybe, we don’t think about the wrapping anymore. We think about the gift. How thoughtful it was, how it shows a real knowledge of the person and a desire to make them smile. Isabella is more excited to give you the gift than to get the gifts from you. The gift is a special kind of conversation with the receiver. It says “You are important to me. What you want, and what brings you joy matter to me.”
In a way, our prayers are gifts to God, each wrapped differently. You can see our individuality, our personalities, and unique characteristics in them. Some of us have really short prayers. Some of us have well-thought-out prayers. As I’ve listened to some of my friends pray for me, some of their prayers are as well-thought out as the gift with perfect corners. And as I pray for others, I know I’m scattered. I sound like the gift that’s just scrunched together, not perfect, but it’s still a conversation with God. When we pray out loud for others, it’s easy to think about how we sound. (Maybe too easy). But no matter what we’re praying for, it’s important to know that God asks us to pray. He gives us the basic model in Matthew 6:9-13, so we can ask Him what He would like us to pray for and what His will is.
Matthew 6 tells us not to try to sound great and pontificate and be important as we pray, but it’s the giving of the gift that matters. It’s even a beautiful thing when we do it in secret (Matthew 6:6, because Our Father is in secret too), whether we’re praying for others or just offering praise to God. Prayer is our way of saying to God, “You are important to me. What you want, and what brings you joy matter to me.” If our hearts aren’t like the Matthew 6:5 hypocrites “who love to stand in the streets and in the synagogues and to be seen and heard by others,” it doesn’t really matter how our prayers are wrapped. (As I’ve listened to my boy pray for me, I’m just overjoyed that he’s praying for me.) What matters to the Heavenly Father is our motivation. We need to pray because we want to bring Him joy and pray the way He wants us to pray: with honor for Him, with thankfulness, and being honest about our needs (Matthew 6:9-13). And we should remember that the Scripture is also full of prayers and songs with big feelings: sadness, anger, hopelessness, exultant joy, awe, and desire (look at the Psalms)!
Revelation 5:8 tells us that in the throne room where Jesus sits, surrounded by elders and angels worshiping Him, our prayers reach him, “golden bowls of incense which are the prayers of the saints.” Our prayers, however they sound on Earth, are filling the room with a sweet aroma to Him like the Old Testament sacrifices in the tabernacle. He loves that we’re praying to Him, no matter how it’s wrapped.
Let’s not compare ourselves to others, thinking we’re the best (there’s no reward for the least tape). And we probably shouldn’t heckle our family members who pray a little scrunchily either. Let’s just enjoy the celebration and gift-giving that’s happening with our family. All those prayers that come from a desire to praise and do things as He wants us to are sweet aromas filling the air in heaven.
