by Sandy Kirby Quandt

Temperatures in the 90s here in my part of the world, and I’m surrounded by skeins and skeins and skeins of yarn.

I recently completed and mailed off a knitted baby blanket for the expected arrival in September of the latest Seattle Seahawks fan.

Another knitting project I completed this past week is a sweater for Knit for Kids. Lots more yarn is waiting for the rest of the sweaters I hope to complete and send out before winter hits.

Over a dozen completed crocheted hats sit waiting for the hundred or more additional hats I’ll crochet and send downtown for distribution to the homeless this fall.

But there’s lots of time before fall, you might say. And there is. So why the rush to deal with yarn that has a tendency to make one hot in a season where you don’t need anything else to add to the heat?

Experience has taught me life doesn’t always go as planned, and time has a way of slipping away with interruptions and assorted other emergencies.

I’m learning to do the work ahead of time.

If I wait until later these projects won’t get done. So, I’ve got to get working on them now. And in reality, all the sweaters I want to knit probably won’t get completed this year. Instead, what I don’t finish now will be there for me to complete and send next year, along with more crocheted hats.

So I’m thinking…is there a comparison between my projects and prayer?

Just as I need to get these projects completed ahead of time so the recipients will have them when needed, I believe we should be prayed up ahead of time before those prayers are needed.

God’s not bound by time so there’s no reason to worry about approaching him too early with our requests. Right?

Why wait until you walk into the interviewer’s office to pray for the right words to say during the job interview?

Why wait until the doctor’s report comes back before you pray for good results?

Why wait until your child heads down the wedding aisle before you pray God will provide the perfect spouse? Or provide you with the perfect mate?

God knows what we have need of before we even ask, true, but he still wants us to ask so we can see his hand at work in the answer. We can never ask too early.

Anything on the horizon you need to start praying for now? There sure is for me. What say we commit to being prayed up?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Leave a comment below. If you think others would appreciate reading this please share it through the social media buttons.

Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer. You will cry out, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you stop making trouble for others, if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others, if you feed those who are hungry and take care of the needs of those who are troubled, then your light will shine in the darkness, and you will be bright like sunshine at noon. Isaiah 58:9-10 (NCV)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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