Prayer Markers

This morning as I was driving down Wilshire Avenue, I noticed a red and white sign.  Actually, I notice it almost every morning as I drive by that same location. 

It’s a FOR SALE sign that sits near the edge of large empty field advertising for a commercial real estate business.

It is also a prayer marker for me.

Just as I use a yellow highlighter to underline or “mark” passages in books I’m reading, I have “markers” that remind me to pray.

This one is for the sign’s owners; friends I rarely see these days but spent large chunks of time with when our kids were in school together. Years ago, I promised myself (and them) that when I passed one of their signs I would say a prayer for them.

So I do.

It isn’t long. It isn’t complicated. Usually it is something like this:

“God, I bring Brent and Wynell to you. Be with them today. Meet their needs. Show yourself in their life in some way.”

Sometimes I pray for one of their kids. Sometimes I pray for their health, or that a property will sell. Often I just pray whatever comes out and trust that the Holy Spirit will prompt me on what their needs are.

I have a lot of prayer markers – things I “take notice” of that prompt me to pray for a particular person or situation…

• The song that reminds me to pray for my friend who loves it.
• The neighborhood dog that reminds me to pray for its owner.
• The ambulance rushing down the street that reminds me to pray for a paramedic friend.
• The ringtone that reminds me to pray for my son. 

Anything can be a prayer marker if it jogs my memory of someone or something and causes me to pray. 

When I was young I thought that to “intercede in prayer” meant that I had to get on my knees and pray for a deliberate amount of time.

These days, I’ve learned that sincere prayer can happen anywhere, even in a car driving down the road.

You just have to do it.

Do you have a prayer marker? Something that reminds you to pray? If not, decide on a couple this week and get started.