Two weeks ago, I wrote here about my friend who was nearing the end of her days here on earth. She did cross over into eternity last Saturday, June 30, 2007, and this past Saturday I attended the memorial service held in her honor.

I knew the woman in question for about as long as I can remember — at least since seventh grade — but we were never real close friends. We hung out in the same circle of friends, but did not seek each other out individually. Whenever “the gang” was gathered together, we were both there. And we kept up to date on each other’s lives via the other members of our group with whom we both interacted individually. We were always happy to see each other, though. Friendships often work this way.

How do you pray for others? Do you pray for a specific result?

For instance, if you have a friend or family member who is ill, do you pray that they “get well,” “recover fully” or use similar verbiage?I took a class on prayer a few years ago and the facilitator taught us something very simple, but profound. We say the Lord’s Prayer which includes the words “thy will be done” but we otherwise don’t seem to pray that way. Instead, in prayer, we say things like “let me get that job or raise or . . .” or “please help ______ get better soon” or “please give me . . .” Garth Brooks sang about lost love and, of course, many of us recited all too often the familiar words, “please make ______ love me . . .”

In reality, what we should always pray, according to that teacher, is a request that the Lord’s will truly be done. That’s a harder thing to do because it requires us to step outside of our self and self-centeredness to surrender to another’s will. That’s a hard thing to do, especially if you are a Type A person who is used to being in charge of your own destiny and unaccustomed to giving up control about major aspects of your own life.

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