Praying with Sweet Caroline

 

I meet at times with a friend to pray. Her name is Caroline. More often than not though, she's simply referred to as Sweet Caroline. She's so amazing. I often wonder if she's the real muse behind Neil Diamond's pop song by the same name. But I don't think they've ever met. Well, at least she never mentioned it.

When we meet, my friend and I talk about how kind God is to us and we share many things; some of which tug at our hearts. We laugh too. We talk about good food, shoes with open toes, great nail color and the beach. Fine books, our children and husbands are also in the mix.

Smiling that we are in His book.

 

            Once, when our time reached well spent and we had not yet prayed, Sweet Caroline said we needn’t worry or fret. With her Bible in hand, she found Malachi 3:16 and read aloud:

Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another;

and the Lord hearkened, and heard it,

and a book of remembrance was written before him for them

that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

            We like this verse. We like it so much that the whole Old Testament Book of Malachi made for a hot topic when next we met. We read that God’s people were in a very sad state. The pride of their priests had led them into sin of all sorts and shapes. Many of them put more trust in their wealth than in God. Some spoke harsh words about him and said, “what good does it do to serve God?”

             Yet not all of God’s people were in such a sad state. Some still feared the Lord and thought upon his name. Some still had deep trust in him. Some still spoke kind words about him. And God heard them and wrote them in his book.

             While that was more years ago than we care to count, my friend and I agree that not much has changed since the book of Malachi. Verse after verse–book after book–age after age, God’s people are still the same. So is God. We read in Malachi 3:6 that he does not change. He still hears us.   

             And so, with a sweet peace in our midst, Sweet Caroline and I now read Malachi 3:16 each time we meet. Didn't I say she's amazing? She taught me to be sure and speak kind things about God even while we share things which tug at our hearts. She said that is a good way of fearing the Lord – to think upon his name. Oh, we still talk about good food, shoes, nail color and the beach; books, children and husbands are still in the mix. But now when we meet to pray, we also think about God with his hand cupped to his ear. We like that he hears us even though we have yet to bow our heads. We think he smiles as we talk about him.

             And we smile to think that we are in his book.   

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Similar pieces of today's post have been published as follows:  A Fine Book as a guest blog post for Katy Kauffman of Lighthouse Bible Studies, In His Book  a compilation by Susan King's Short and Sweet Goes Fourth, and Smiling That We Are in His book by the Valdosta Daily Times/Faith & Family column.