What should I pray about?

That question is very real and one that I imagine many of us (secretly) ask. I know that I do. Seriously, what should I pray for when I see a car accident on the side of the road? What should I do when my mom tells me that her neighbor has fallen and been rushed to the hospital? You get the point.

Then, there are smaller things. Last week, the freezer in my fridge stopped working. Not stopped as in “hot” but more like turning-ice-cream-into-soup kind of stopped. Being from New England, this is tantamount to a cardinal sin. I cried a bit inside when I had to throw away the half-full containers of Cookies and Cream.

Forgive me Lord. Next time, I’m going to offer it up and consume both containers rather than sending them to the trash can. That’s the right thing to do.

I digress.

Should I pray about the darn freezer? Does God care about that or is it too small? Maybe he’s working on climate change or immigration. I wouldn’t want to be a pain in the rear end with something as puny as my freezer.

Hear what I’m saying?

So what should you pray about? Here are four suggestions:

Yourself. This is more of a “praying for” type scenario. You should pray for the grace to desire God more. It’s good to pray for the courage to follow Christ more faithfully. There is value in asking God to turn you into a saint. In other words, be selfish so that you can be more for others. Check out St. Paul’s advice to Timothy, “Attend to yourself and to your teaching…”
The condition of the Church. If the Church is Christ’s body, we want it to be healthy. I don’t know about you but I see a bruised, limping community, struggling to follow Christ. I see leaders who have lost their fire and followers who have (often) only a slight knowledge of the faith. We are all at fault and our weakness should grieve us. It’s good to pray for the renewal of the Church.
Those that don’t (yet) believe. Do you pray for your neighbors on your block? How about your coworkers? There’s no shortage of people to pray for when it comes to those that don’t yet know Christ. Look around. Don’t leave out the folks who live closest to you. Sadly, these may be in your own family. Don’t give up on them and pray too for the grace to be a good role model to each one of them.
The raw needs of those close to you. You get the call that your sister’s mother-in-law has had a setback in her battle with cancer. That’s real! Your friend just found out that his job is being eliminated in two months. These kind of situations happen all of the time and they deserve your heartfelt prayer.

We could add a ton of other items to this list but you get the point. Consider these four things in your daily quiet time. I suspect you’ll be glad you did.