Who's doing the teaching around here?

I love those opportunities at work where I get to learn from my students. Or, as in this case, when I learn from fellow educators as they are teaching our students. The other day, our head of school came to chapel to talk to the kids about hope. Hope is our chapel theme for the month of December, and I think it is a really hard concept for kids to understand (it's a hard concept for me to understand!) The head of school stood at the podium and showed us a box of chocolates. He said his mother gives him a box every year for Christmas. Every time he bites into a candy, he hopes to find coconut filling. He bit into a piece of candy right there at the podium, wrinkled his nose, and said, "It's not coconut. It tastes like sour chocolate." When he finished chewing, he said, "I hoped the filling would be coconut. It's not. But in the end, I'm still standing here eating candy at 8:30 in the morning!" I think that was a pretty great metaphor for hope. You desire for something to happen; however, if it doesn't happen the way you want it to, you accept the outcome anyway. The kids seemed to get it.
Isn't this a lot like prayer? I pray persistently for what I want; however, I know that in the end I am called to accept God's plan for my life. Is that what he wants me to do? I learned as I was teaching Sunday school this weekend that there are six verses in the book of John that say God will grant us whatever we ask for. Well, if that's the case, then why am I not seeing instant results from my persistent prayers? I think-- no, I know-- that it's because God grants us the things we pray for in Jesus' name. That means praying for things that will glorify God or will help you do His work. I've been trying to keep this in mind as I pray this week. Am I praying for things that will help me be the hands and feet of God? Or am I praying for things that will benefit me without glorifying Him? I'm hoping that this exercise will help me be a little less selfish in my prayers.
Another thing we talked about in Sunday school was the concept of praying for something "in Jesus' name." Apparently all Methodist prayers should end with this phrase, and, as the teacher on our video said, this isn't just a cue to let listeners know that the pray-er is almost finished praying. It is like we are writing a "prayer check" and Jesus is signing his name on our prayers before we send them up to God. Yes, that's really cheesy. But it makes sense. Would Jesus pray for the things I am praying for? Do my prayers have the Jesus seal of approval? I think I'm failing at that right now.

Lord, beer me strength.

I have been trying lately to focus on improving my prayer life. I am not a consistent pray-er. I am that person who tries to squeeze in a quick prayer before I go to sleep each night, but I never manage to stay awake long enough to finish the prayer. Someone once said to me, "What better way to fall asleep than while talking to God?" I don't know how I feel about that, though; it sounds like a nice idea, but in the end I'm not really accomplishing anything.
I've been teaching my Sunday school class this month, and we're watching a video series about the prayers of Jesus and what we can learn from his example. Basically, we should pray persistently and with a purpose; we should seek an intimate relationship with God and make an effort to communicate with him through consistent prayer; and we shouldn't hesitate to pray whenever we need to. Sounds easy... but there's so much about prayer that I just don't do. I don't pray persistently. Maybe it's the ADD in me that keeps me from focusing on something for too long. And I don't remember to turn to God to help me out in daily situations. I love watching The Office, and one of my favorite episodes is the one where Andy uses the phrase "beer me..." to ask for things (as in "beer me that stapler.") Finally, Jim looks into the camera and says, "Lord, beer me strength." That's about the extent of my daily prayers. I have actually caught myself muttering those exact words: Lord, beer me strength. I don't think that's what Jesus had in mind when he encouraged his disciples to pray.
There's so much I want to improve about my prayer habits that I hardly know where to begin. Okay, well that's not true; I did choose a starting point. I struggle with sharing my prayer requests with others. I don't know why. I guess I have this fear of becoming that person who, when asked for prayer requests, answers with "my friend's uncle's coworker's nephew's girlfriend's mom..." And why is that a problem? Yes it's random, but it's still someone's prayer request-- it's important! I am blessed to have friends who will take up my causes and pray for them. I have started reaching out and asking for prayers, and it brings peace of mind knowing that someone else is out there praying with me.