There’s a long wooden table that’s been a home for my prayers for over 25 years now. It’s in our conference room at Guideposts and on Monday mornings a group of us in the New York office gather around it and read prayer requests sent in from the web and by mail.
We pick a few to read aloud, then we bow our heads and as best we can, we remember those needs and give thanks for the many answered prayers.
Later in the week that same teak-topped table is where we meet to hash out editorial content for the magazines or our websites. Business people come in and analyze our marketing strategy. Accounting will present a PowerPoint on how we’re measuring up to our goals. I suspect that the conversations that go around that table are no different than what you hear in many a New York skyscraper or American office. How are we doing? Are we making our numbers? Are we reaching out to new markets?
Except, except, except.
Every once in a while, if the conversation gets heated—and in any business there are stressful moments—I look around the table and remember how we’ve consecrated it every Monday morning. I’m reminded that God is in this place and listening and caring about us. It would be true in any workplace, in front of a computer, behind a tractor, at the wheel of a truck, in front of a kitchen sink or a conference room table.
Work and prayer. It’s a wonderful mix. Any way to remind ourselves that God is present where we are from nine to five (or eight to six), blessing us, understanding, listening, caring.
So tell me where do you pray?
