Raise the Red Flag!

Not long ago my husband and I exchanged our post office box for a mailbox in front of our home, and I was irritated that our mail wasn’t being picked up.

We were receiving our mail; that wasn’t the issue. But our letters and thank you notes and invitations and bills would remain in the slot where I deposited them; and I’d have to retrieve them, drive to the post office, and drop them off there once more, so they would get where they needed to go on time.

I was aggravated.

These things needed to be delivered to the right individuals at the right time.

“For crying out loud,” I griped to Ian. “Why in the world won’t they won’t pick up our mail?”

And then Ian, who was not irritated but amused, looked at me and asked, “Well, did you raise the red flag?”

“Huh?”

“Yes, Becky, there’s a red flag that you are to raise when you have something that needs to be picked up.”

Yikes! I was mad the post office hadn’t picked up my mail, but I hadn’t requested that they do so. I hadn’t raised the red flag.

And isn’t that sometimes true of prayer as well?

I confess that I’m guilty of saying I’ll pray, but forgetting to do so. That’s like leaving the mail in the mail box without raising the red flag. Knowing there is a need to pray and actually praying are two different things.

But when we do pray, our prayers are the red flags that get God’s attention. He sees those flags, he picks up our requests, and he does what we cannot do. He delivers.

The difficulty of our prayer request isn’t even a consideration when we pray, which is really mind-boggling, isn’t it? 

For now, God is training me to pray as soon as a prayer request is uttered or a prayer need is stirred. My part is to raise the red flag at that moment. His part is to do what I cannot do.

I was talking to someone the other day about what happens as we grow older. At different stages of our lives, we leave behind some things that we cannot do as easily as we could do before. And being prone to act, to do, to help, this can be frustrating.

But what if the best things we do are the things we do when we can’t do anything else? Like raising the red flag in prayer. 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV).

 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2 NIV).

 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV).