“Uh oh,” my friend said the other night at the end of our men’s group, “I don’t think I should share my prayer request anymore.”
Why did he say this? Simple, he didn’t have a “big prayer request.”
After hearing everyone’s very serious, very heartfelt prayer requests, his suddenly felt small and insignificant. He didn’t want to say it out loud. He was struck with a bought of prayer envy or “prenvy.” And you hate to see that kind of thing strike a kid so young. It’s a shame, a dang shame.
So to help him, and others out there, I thought it would be a good idea to review some ways to prevent feeling like your prayer request isn’t “big enough.”
1. Go first
The reason my friend was worried about his request is that he went last. After a stream of requests that were big and meaty, his request felt tiny. Had he gone first, that wouldn’t have been a problem. If you have an inkling that you don’t have a big request, go first. Jump out of the gate as fast as you can. Hustle.
2. Don’t listen to the first prayer requests.
Go inside yourself. Kind of like Daniel Larusso in the Karate Kid. The second one, where he had to do that kind of drum thing back and forth and get into some sort of crazy rhythm to beat the bad guy. Yeah, do that so that you don’t get intimidated by the other requests.
3. Say your prayer request impossibly fast.
Do it like the guy in the Micro Machine commercial. Say it so fast that no one can hear it and judge it’s wee little size.
4. Act it out.
If you’re worried your request doesn’t feel very legit, create a dramatization like they use on shows like America’s Most Wanted. Use fake mustaches for the different characters and accents as well. Really explore the “fourth wall” of communication.
5. Use all 5 senses.
Take a page out of the Disney handbook and engage all five senses. Disney does this with their ride, “Soarin” in which you watch an Imax size screen and feel like you’re flying. When you go over an orange grove, you smell oranges. A river? You get splashed. Do the same thing. Got dumped while eating a cookie and need some prayer? Back chocolate chip cookies in your house like Real Estate Agents. Was it raining outside when you lost your job? Bring a little spritz bottle and squirt people in the room as you share your request.
I suppose you could always not care about the “size” of your prayer request. I suppose you could instead see your request less as a competition and more as a chance to reach out to a loving God who longs to communicate with us. That’s definitely one angle you could take. Then again, that micro machine angle sounds fun too. At the end of the day, it’s really a toss up.
Have you ever felt like your prayer request was too small or insignificant?
