Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. – James 5:16

The water in the tub was warm. Soapy bubbles swayed their frothy tops to and fro as my eldest daughter scooped them up with her wrinkly hands only to blow them away.

While perched upon the edge of the shiny white tub, I lifted the shampoo bottle and squirted the allotted amount into the palm of my hand. As I began scrubbing my daughter’s wavy brown locks, I let her know that a friend of mine was stopping by the house to visit.

My daughter’s face spread into a joyful grin as she brightly declared, “Oh! Yah! I love her. She’s on my loving list.”

Puzzled, I replied, “Your loving list? What is a loving list?”

She looked at me like I had just sprouted three heads. She answered, “Mom, you know… the loving list. The list of the people we love that is written on our hearts. Jesus is the first on my list. Then you and daddy and…”

Oh. That list. You know, the loving list. Hmmm. It sounds so much more important and beautiful than my to-do list. My work list. My chore list. Or grocery list. Those tend to be the lists I think on.

But not my daughter. No, she thinks on her loving list.

My heart felt convicted. My soul felts unrest. I waited to hear His voice in my heart.

Stop daughter. Stop taking me the lists that do not eternally matter and bring forth to me your loving list. That – that- list is the list you should pray upon. By doing so you will feed my sheep. Love your neighbour. And number one… love no other gods before me.

It is so easy for us to take God our lists. I believe we do so because His word does tell us to cast all of our burdens upon Him and He will give us rest. And His word is solid, setting the foundation underneath our weary and tired feet.

So many of us love the check, check, check off the list. It makes us feel like we are accomplishing much. And many of our lists are important because they carry responsibility. But perhaps if we took our loving list to Him first, the burdens would appear less burdensome and, before we know it, the responsibilities start getting checked off the list and there is joy in noise of it all.

I am reminded that love is not a feeling but an action. Of this I have learned well. Most importantly I am reminded that one of the most powerful actions we can do for another soul is to genuinely pray for them- to lift the up before The Lord’s throne asking Him for action in their lives. Action. Asking Him to work within whatever situation or circumstance we present before Him. I suppose we could say we are asking Him to love them. And He does whether we see it or not for God is love. God is action.

So often those lists of ours are just actions we feel some pressure to perform. The greatest pressure we should feel is the pressure of the Holy Spirit within us to move. To love. Yes, the loving list. Perhaps if we strive to put that list first, all the other lists – the burdens- will start to take care of themselves.

Father, help me- help us- to strive forward with the loving list. Help us to put our words into actions. And help us to see that when we do, all the other lists don’t seem nearly as important as we may have thought them to be.

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