I grew up hearing an eclectic mix of music because of an eclectic-music-loving dad. He truly covered it all. The sounds at the breakfast table could be anything from Joe Cocker’s “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” to a Beethoven symphony to jazz great Dave Brubeck to some soulful Ray Charles or he might go folk with Judy Collins. He even loved the latin flavor of Jose Feliciano. All of them started on vinyl, but made their way to a “Realistic” reel-to-reel tape player (He worked for Tandy/Radio Shack) that would play hours of this music. The Christmas season was magical with Handel’s Messiah or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Andy Williams on constant play.
One song I remember well and still have in my personal library is Aretha Franklin’s “I Say a Little Prayer” (written by Burt Bacharach – another favorite of dad). Here are lyrics to the first verse:
The moment I wake up
Before I put on my makeup
I say a little pray for you
While combing my hair now
And wondering what dress to wear now
I say a little prayer for you
Because of a man by the name of Michael Wells (who passed much too early) I learned to “say a little prayer for me” that was transformational in my parenting and “husband-ing”. But I’m confident it works in EVERY aspect of life. Instead of praying, as I did for many years “Help me be strong. Help me have love. Help me have kindness, etc.” we should pray “Jesus, come and be in me all that I cannot be.” That was the short version. Most of the time it sounded something like this: “Jesus, I cannot be the husband/dad I need to be right now. Would you come and be in me all that I cannot be for my wife/boys.” And guess what? He will. That’s all the invitation that He needs to work in your life and family.
Many Christians grow up hearing and believing that they need to “be like Jesus”. And so we try really hard to be like him, in our own strength. And it leads to a life of “trying harder to do better.” It’s an endless treadmill of self-effort without much progress and a lot of frustration. And if there is progress, we pat ourselves on the back for “doing better”.
Michael Wells (and scripture) have taught me that it is “Christ in me, the hope of glory.” We just need to let Christ be Who He is IN and THROUGH us. Just let him shine through the cracks of your “jar of clay.” Michael would also say “If Jesus is made strong in our weakness, then why do we hide our weaknesses?” And not hiding our weakness begins with that simple prayer of surrender each day and sometimes moment by moment. Pray that prayer and then let Him be Who He is IN you!
I’m not saying that it should be your only prayer in life. Or that this is a “magic” prayer. But it’s a great beginning to “praying without ceasing” throughout your day.
Give it a shot. Tomorrow morning when you sit up on the side of your bed, put your hand over your heart and pray “Jesus, today, come and be in me all that I cannot be.” And make that your daily surrender to all that HE is and wants to BE in your life.