"PRAYER OF A STANDARD BEARER"Rene Phillips Qualls
"My Father in Heaven,
I am coming to You, as a concerned mother, with prayers offered on the behalf of my children. Help me, Lord, to raise my children according to Your high standards, with attention paid to Your morals and values. I must instill in them Your principles. Strengthen them, so that their behavior is Godly, and pleasing to You. And, so that they will not be an embarrassment to me. I do not wish to appear as a fool, nor do I want shame brought to the family name, because of the unacceptable behavior of my children.
By the way, Lord, I know You understand why I have lowered Your standards in my own life. After everything I have been through, You can see how my emotions are stretched to their limits! I have suffered so much loss, Lord. You can certainly see how lonely I am, and at my age, well, most of the good men are taken! It would be expected, given my circumstances, for me to make a little compromise here or there, wouldn't it? Like, if I fudge some on the Sabbath. I can't force my religion on someone who might be interested in me. If I were too strict with things, I might scare them off! And, it's so hard to convert someone! So, you can see why I don't bring You into the conversations I have with my boyfriend, can't You? He might get turned off! But, please, Lord, don't take it personally, OK?
Now, as far as my behavior is concerned, You need not worry about anything. I am very careful to keep my personal life well away from my children. It just wouldn't do at all to confuse them, at this point in their lives. They just would not understand why Mom has let down her moral standards. To them everything is so simple, so black and white. They are not mature enough to see how circumstances in a person's life can affect some values. There are some gray areas in life, after all. Thankfully, You can see how these things can change though, don't You, Lord? I mean, a woman can take just so much loneliness before she does something about it, right? Besides, being intimate with a man is expected of her if she wants to have a relationship. Being able to communicate with each other sometimes just isn't enough to keep a man interested enough to stick around. This is one of those gray areas I mentioned earlier. Anyway, Father, You will be happy to know that You don't need to concern Yourself about me being an embarrassment to anyone. I am very careful about keeping my private life a secret from my family, so there is no chance of bringing shame or confusion to them.
Finally, I ask You again, Father, as my Heavenly Parent, to help me to be a good mother. Help me to be worthy of the respect of my children. Give me the wisdom I need to teach them the RIGHT way to live, Your way. Help me to show them how to hold firmly to Your values, and to be steadfast to Your standards. Because, as You and I both know, children can bring shame to the family name, and to their parents.
All these things I ask in the Name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ADDENDUM TO "PRAYER OF A STANDARD BEARER"
Although some pieces I write for the Church Bulletin reflect my personal experiences, this contribution does not. However, I did draw from my own circumstances to create the outline for this woman's situation. I do relate to the hypocritical, self-righteous attitude that she possesses, in relation to her "secret sins." This woman worries about the impressions her children make upon other people, and the potential embarrassment to herself, due to their bad behavior. It shames me to think of the times I have gone to such lengths to make sure that I have made a favorable impressions on other people, to impress upon them how "good" I am. And all the while bringing shame on the Family Name with my "secret" behavior. I have come up with some very good excuses for embarrassing my Heavenly Father. As long as I am not found out by the people, I have been very comfortable. It didn't seem to matter to me, since I really didn't give it much thought, that God watched every move I made. So did the devil. Did he ever gloat.
Thankfully, my Lord has shown me much mercy by bringing to my attention the fact that I must, for the sake of the God Family Name, and for my own sake, repent of my "secret sins." The sins unseen by my family and friends, but thrown in the face of God.
Copyright © 2000 René Phillips Qualls (Used by permission.)