PRAYING STILL

Back in the olden days before cell phones were invented, if we wanted to send a message to our friends we had to chisel it out on a stone table by the flickering light of the campfire and...

Okay, maybe I'm not THAT old. But I'm seriously just a few generations away from parchment paper and quills. In fact, I am exactly a Big Chief Tablet and #2 pencil old. And while I have fond memories of scribbling notes on my Big Chief tablet, I don't miss the holes all over the paper I made with erasures.

Eventually I progressed to 3-hole lined paper and Banana Bic pens. I poured ALL my teenage angst out in colored ink and fancy cursive then folded it up into a crisp, tight square. If I made a mistake or misspelled a word (no autocorrect in the 70's), I had 3 choices. I could either :   1) Crumple the paper into a ball, toss it in the trash and start over; 2) Scratch through the mistake; or 3) Cover it up with Liquid Paper, blow on it til dry, then scratch my corrections on top of the crusty whiteout.

(FUN FACT:  Liquid Paper was invented by Michael Nesmith's mother.  And if you never used a Big Chief Tablet, you've probably also never heard of Michael Nesmith.)

More often than not, I made it all the way to the end of the letter, signed off with a flourish (i.e. STAY COOL, BYE) only to remember that I had forgotten to add that One More Important Thing. So, what did I do? I just simply added a “P.S.”. In fact, pretty much all of my notes had at least one P.S. - many of them had a P.S.S. (Not gonna lie, if my A.D.D. was kicking in... I P.S.'ed like a crazy chick all the way to the bottom of the page.)

But thanks to technology, I can now text, email and direct message with the option to edit and delete beyond the wildest imaginings of Shakespeare.

While I can't remember the last time I added a P.S. to a message, it occurred to me last night that my P.S. game is still going strong in my prayer life.

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older and my brain is so full of song lyrics and useless info that there's only a wee bit of memory space left... or maybe it's that my prayer list keeps growing longer and longer. Whatever the reason, I find myself P.S.'ing God not only in every prayer but all the livelong day.

It goes something like this: I close my eyes and get really quiet as I humbly tiptoe up those heavenly stairs. As I climb, I try to shake off the tethers that keep me earthbound so that I might approach my Lord in awe and wonder. First, I thank Him for all my blessings (which takes a looooooong time), then in repentance I beg His forgiveness for my sins (takes even longer cause... "Hello, my name is Robin and I'm a sinner"), and finally I start ticking off the names and needs on my Prayer List. It's quite a list. In fact, there are nights when my list is SO long that I have to triage that thing like an ER nurse. Those whose lives are hemorrhaging the worst go to the top of The List. And to be painfully honest, there are nights that I, myself, am so tired and weary that all I can do is lay really still and ask God to reach into my heaped up heart and... just help.

When I finally reach the end of my prayer and sign off with a flourish (i.e. STAY COOL, AMEN), I inevitably remember that I forgot to add that One More Thing. What do I do? I start P.S.'ing. And P.S.S.'ing.

I P.S. God so much that I've changed the definition of P.S.

In writing, it means “Post Script”.  But when I'm talking to God, it means “Praying Still”.

And y'all, there's never been a time when we needed to be P.S.'ing more.