PRAYER: When I Become Fretful and Demanding
by Jack Watts
MY PRAYER: Father,
I want to control the outcome
Of events that impact my life.
You know that the desire of my heart
Is for You to orchestrate circumstances
That would allow me to have my own way.
I pretend to be nobler than this, but I am not.
When things don’t go the way I want—
The way I think they should be—
Which seems to occur far too often,
I become sulky, peevish, and petulant.
I resent that You don’t conform Your will to mine,
Even though my desires are often unwise.
When I behave like a child, I think like one as well,
But I don’t realize how juvenile I have become.
This never occurs to me until my fretful emotions
Have run the gambit and I am spent—
Exhausting myself emotionally from dictating to You.
When I become worn out from all of the stress,
Like always, I become humble and contrite,
Acknowledging that You are God, and I am not.
Forgive me for my waywardness and my willfulness.
Restore a sense of humility and balance to me.
Teach me to focus exclusively on my role,
Which is simply to do the next right thing,
Regardless of what that might be,
Rather than being fretful about the things
I cannot control, which are Your exclusive domain,
Amen.