'You're in my prayers...'
When you run into a person that you haven't seen in, oh, say, 5-8 years and they tell you 'you're in my prayers all the time', do you think they are actually telling you the truth? Do you think they actually think of you and include you in their prayers whenever they pray?
Whenever I hear someone say this, I always have to think to myself "Hmmm... I think this person has prayers mixed up with thoughts". Or, maybe they see themselves as so very pious that they consider prayers and thoughts as one and the same; that they are communicating with God through every single thought that rolls through their heads.
I work in a public building and I hear a lot of conversations in passing. I hear this phrase so often that you'd think everyone in my town does nothing but sit about and pray for each other. LOL. It rolls off peoples' tongues so freely and (seemingly) thoughtlessly that it has almost become an idiom; it has no real truth or meaning. Hearing this statement as often as I do, I just don't beleive that it can be a true statement 100% of the time.
Which begs the question, "Why do they say it?". If they are 'good Christians' then they would not dare LIE about what their prayers contain, would they? It does make one wonder.
Prayers are important things to Christians and to be included in one's prayers would make one Christian feel important to another Christian. It is unfair and misleading to say that you are praying for someone all the time if you are, in fact, not doing so.
I know that this is a very minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but these are the same people who would urge me to go to church and accept Jesus Christ so that I could be a 'better' person. These same individuals would tell me (to my face!) that I am going to hell because I do not believe in God. But it is OK to lie about your prayers?
{sigh}
Peace
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Comment by Doug Reardon on August 1, 2011 at 6:10pm -
Well, if they are praying for, say, everybody wouldn't you be included?
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Comment by Adriano celentano on August 1, 2011 at 7:59pm -
well,, my approach is to deal with such people as under developed human beings, so I really don't give much attention about what they are saying/doing, for me they are like kinda cats or dogs, sometimes they are annoying, sometimes they are cute, and man cant hate them for being themselves.
peace and love
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Comment by Amy L. Cook on August 3, 2011 at 4:51pm -
Doug Reardon said: "Well, if they are praying for, say, everybody wouldn't you be included?"
You know, I had not considered that. Perhapse this is the reasoning they use when they say this to everyone they happen to meet. I just assumed (yeah, I Know, ASS-U-ME) that since they were telling a secific person that they were in their prayers all the time that they actually prayed for that specific person. I guess they could have some blanket statement like "Dear God, please bless the whole entire world..." lol... and that would, technically, include everyone.
Still, it seems a bit misleading to say 'you're in my prayers all the time" if you are not actually praying for them inparticular. Just sayin' :)
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Comment by Carol Whitt on August 3, 2011 at 5:03pm -
Even when I was considering myself Christian I was confused by church-goers saying this to me. There were a select few who I think would (and probably still do) specifically pray for individuals (myself included).
Other than that I think they're lumping thoughts and prayers together. The more 'devout' Christians I knew would, in fact, silently pray/communicate with god throughout the day.
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