Pastor Larson’s Corner: Prayer and action

I love gardening, but for every seed I plant Mother Nature plants 30 or more. In the past, my vegetable garden has been overrun with various kinds of weeds. This year, however, I made up my mind that I would try harder to keep the weeds down. I soon discovered that this meant spending a great deal of time on my knees, as kneeling seems to work best for seeing what to pull when the vegetables are first emerging. So far my diligence has paid off handsomely with carrots, onions, and beets that don’t have to compete with fast-growing weeds. It’s been hard work but well worth the effort.

In a similar way, making the effort to get down on our knees in prayer can be a big challenge, but one with many benefits. We often find it difficult to set the time aside to speak to God. I recently read that one out of six people in America today never pray. Sadly, there are probably many fine Christian people who are part of that one out of six. A disciplined prayer life is not easy to achieve, but like weeding a garden there are tremendous benefits to doing so.

When we pray, we connect to God and we connect with those for whom we pray as well. When we remember someone in prayer, we feel closer to them. Praying for someone often leads us to acts of kindness on their behalf. If we pray for someone with great needs the chances are good that we will one day do something to help meet those needs. You will discover that prayer often leads to action, because the needs of others are brought clearly into our conscious mind. Like getting down on your knees to weed a garden, prayer greatly rewards the effort.

Pastor Larson’s Corner is written by Jerry Larson and appears weekly in the Norwegian American Weekly.

Pastor Jerry Larson retired to his cabin in Zimmerman, Minn., after 39 years in parish ministry for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In 2011 he published a book entitled “Speaking the Word Freely: Writing with purpose, preaching with power.” Contact him at jerlarson@visi.com

This article originally appeared in the July 3, 2015, issue of the Norwegian American Weekly. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.