“I Will Pray for You”

My Mom with her great-grandson last weekend.

I recently led a group of hospital patients in a conversation about prayer and asked them how they felt about people saying “I will pray for you.” Each one of them, even the ones who called themselves non-believers, remarked that they felt cared for and supported and appreciated the gesture.

I wish they could meet my mother.

If you have ever spent any time with my mom, she probably told you she would pray for you. She immediately gets on first name basis with most everyone she has an encounter with: the guy pushing her wheelchair through the airport, the wait staff in any restaurant and the individuals sitting next to her in public settings. She manages to get the highlights of their story and ends each conversation ends the same, I will pray for you. And she does.

She once told me how worried she was about her ADT tech’s girlfriend’s family and put them on her prayer list. Each night the list gets covered. She says it takes a long time to get through everyone.

Sometimes I feel like maybe I should mention that perhaps some of these folks might not welcome being prayed for but I’m sure she would just pray harder for them.

When we’re together, she usually commits me to the effort as well. “We’ll pray for you” even though I haven’t been a part of the conversation and sometimes she adds, “We’re good pray-ers.” That always seems a funny thing to add but I guess it is like a personal endorsement. So I pray too once I get proxied in.

I thought of her today when “Luigi” drove me home from getting my car serviced. I got his story but didn’t add the final line, “I will pray for you.” I did anyway though.

I don’t know if I will ever take my stranger prayers to that level (Bless You (even if you haven’t sneezed) but know my life has been profoundly shaped by being near the top of that list for every one of my days.

Hope for the best,

Tish