The prayer life of a Christian can feel exhausting sometimes. Here is one of our simple prayers written to help you grow in your prayer life and connect with God, especially if you don’t feel like praying. Check it out!
Backyard Fire Nights
Friends and bonfires go together. There’s something so delightful about a summer evening and a warm yellow blaze. Conversations. Camp chairs. Roasted marshmallows. Warm drinks. Cicada songs. A cozy sweatshirt. They’re the best! Not to mention, we all look a little more attractive in firelight, right?! 😉🤣
There’s also a settling nature to a flickering fire pit. Something that invites us to think more deeply about the world and our lives. For some of us, this leads to deeper rest and peacefulness. For others, we begin to hear things from deep within our hearts that we didn’t realize were unsettled, or unresolved, or ungrieved…
Maybe building fires and sitting by them is a spiritual practice because it’s definitely a way that God invites us to experience his presence, love, and peace. In fact, Jesus built a small charcoal fire and cooked breakfast for his friends to do just that— to hang out with them and show them love and forgiveness. So whether you’re a “roast a marshmallow by burning it person” or the “methodical slowly turn your marshmallow until it’s slightly brown all the way around” person, here’s a scripture passage and a prayer we’re thinking about as we listen to the crackle of another backyard bonfire.
“When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’” (John 21:9-12a).
A Prayer for Bonfires
Fire-builder and Breakfast-maker, you connected with and served your friends by a small charcoal fire. You met their physical needs of hunger and their spiritual needs of forgiveness, and you invite me and my friends to find all we need in you as well. Warm our hearts with your love. Dance the light of your presence on our faces and in our eyes. And feed us with the spiritual foods of friendship and your forgiveness and grace. Amen.
The role of prayer in Christian life is powerful and helps us in our mission to creatively explore how we connect with God in the ordinary, extraordinary, everyday moments of life. For more everyday prayers, visit this page!
