Drive-thru Prayers

Fast food is not exactly healthy.  No matter how convenient or inexpensive, food picked up from a window is not nutritious or for that matter satisfying.  A drive-thru is pretty quick but what does fast have to do with getting what you came for, a good meal.  Think about your favorite meal as a child.  Mine was chicken and dumplings which took my mother hours to prepare between rolling dough and boiling chicken.  I’m not saying it was healthy but it sure made me happy.  There was nothing fast about waiting for the dumplings to rise.  When have you ever seen chicken and dumplings on a fast food menu?  Mama said, “Cut the time, you cut the product.”

Matthew 6:5-7

⁵ “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁷ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

The same precept applies to prayer.  Quick, drive-thru prayers diminish the product.  This does not refer to the oft needed “Dear Lord”, “Help Lord” or just the name “Jesus” that is needed when we find ourselves in a dire straight.  Sometimes the Holy Spirit has to speak for us when we do not know what to ask or simply unable to speak.  You know the drive-thru prayers I’m talking about, that prayer we say every night, the same roll call we use when do not even want to think about who really needs pray.  What about those public prayers that ends up being a string of cliches we have heard all our lives. There are also the times we cannot even remember what we just prayed for.  I am writing this because I had to confess to God just how drive-thru my prayers have been.  It’s not so much the length of the prayer as it is the pre-processed, rote, thoughtless ramblings that pass for prayer.  God deserves better than fast food level communication.  He is worthy of our full, undivided attention emanating from a sincere and transparent heart.  The next time you pray, instead of driving through, stop, go inside and sit down.  Dine in.  The meal you receive will be amazing!