1Timothy 2:1-3 The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live. (The Message)
Each year I use the week between Christmas and New Years to intentionally seek the “theme” that God would use as a guide for me in the new year. One year it was the word contentment, another time surrender. Last year it seemed that God wanted to reinforce in me the thought from Psalm 23 that “I have all I need.”
I hadn’t really even begun to give thought to the process when God broke into my quiet time this morning with the scripture quoted above. Initially, I thought that the verse was merely there to set the tone for my search, but I quickly realized that the first part of verse one was the answer to the question I had yet to ask.
So it looks like it’s going to be a year of prayer. As I let this soak in some specific thoughts bubbled up:
-Pray first. My standard practice of allowing worry to drive me to prayer will no longer suffice. Before worry, before complaint, before anything: prayer.
-Pray for leaders. I must confess that I am quite tired with all the grumbling and negativity associated with our current governmental leadership as well as with those seeking to be considered for leadership. I really feel that I am being asked to be silent in the conversations that will be raging and instead be prayerful.
-Prayer is going to lead me into living simply, humbly, and contemplatively.
My thought is to write about this journey. I intend to read about prayer, and about pray-ers. I want to be able to look back see what the terrain of this year-long journey has been. And I will be recording that here (interspersed with other reflections, especially during Lent). To that end, if there is something that I can be praying for you about, please leave me a note. If it’s a private matter, perhaps we can email about that.
I’m excited. I expect I’ll be stretched. I don’t anticipate that this will be easy. But growth rarely is, and I believe I will grow.
Pot of Manna 
I wish you every success in this venture. Our prayer lives and so desperately important, and I pray that many will find wisdom and insight as they follow this journey.
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