Excerpt from Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers: General Prayers

General Prayers – Communicating with God – for Adults and Children

Sometimes you want to talk to God when it isn’t an occasion or a specified time of day and when there isn’t something happening in your life that you want to ask God for or thank God for. You just feel a need to reach out to Him and talk to Him. You might be inspired by an especially pretty sunset, or there may be something else that you want to say that doesn’t fall under a particular prayer category.

             I’ve always wondered whether maybe God likes those prayers best, when He hears from us at times when we want to talk to Him not to ask him for something, or to pray at a time we think we’re supposed to, but “just because.” Don’t you appreciate the phone call from a friend who says, “I was thinking about you, so I thought I’d pick up the phone and say Hi”? Don’t you appreciate the spontaneous kiss from your child—or from anyone else—that isn’t a Hello kiss, a Goodbye kiss, a Good morning kiss, or a Good night kiss, but is a kiss on the spur of the moment that expresses a burst of spontaneous loving emotion? Don’t you think maybe God feels similarly and appreciates those prayers that we offer on the spur of the moment, not because it’s a time when we’re supposed to pray, and not because we have a favor to ask, but just because we feel like talking to Him or because we have something we particularly want to say to Him?

General prayers

#1.

The purr of cats,

The song birds sing,

We thank Thee, Lord,

For everything.

The moon’s soft light,

The day’s bright sun,

We thank Thee, Lord,

For everyone.

#2.

Dear Lord, let Thy blessings fall on me as rain on a parched earth for even as the sun shines to give life, too much sun can wither the fruit on the vine and the flowers in the field if there is not ample rain for balance. So, let my life be balanced, also, with rain and sun, with joys and yet also with the sorrows that make me better appreciate the joys Thou hast given me. Balance my life also with times of plenty of work and times of ample recreation. But above all, please rain Thy blessings down on me and shower me with Thy love and compassion that my blessings may be many and my appreciation of this world and my love for Thee may grow a thousandfold. Amen.

 Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers is authored by Cynthia MacGregor, who has written more than 100 books. For a list of her books, click here.
To read more about Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers, click here.

Everybody's Little Book of Everyday Prayers is illustrated by Zhenya Yanovich, unfortunately recently deceased.

For a review copy of this book, contact editor@msipress.com.