High in the Rocky Mountains where we live, a little spring bubbles out of the ground. The water chuckles its way across our meadow to join a creek that tumbles down to a big meadow. Toward the bottom of the creek, the beavers have built dams. The beaver ponds save the water for later, when the summer gets hot. The ponds feed trees and water plants that the beaver family eats. In the winter, the beaver family curls up in its den along the creek and munches on food they have grown in the warmer days.
Did you know that when we pray, we are storing up blessings for the future, just like the beavers? I know this because when God helped Moses rescue the Israelites from Egypt, he told Moses to make his brother, Aaron, a priest. God said that Aaron should burn incense — sweet spices — in the Tabernacle as prayers for future Israelites, too.
In the Book of Revelation, we are told that God stores up our prayers in golden bowls! So when we pray, God treasures our prayers. He answers some of them right away. But some prayers, he will answer in the future, when the time is best. He doesn’t forget our prayers, because he has saved them in those golden bowls.
So sometimes when we feel sad or scared or unhappy, God sends special answers to prayers that we sent to him a long time ago! That encourages us and feeds our hearts with blessings. It’s just like the blessings of food that the beavers have in the winter when it is snowy outside.
This Thanksgiving, I am going to start writing my prayers down on paper and putting them into my own golden bowl, to remind me that God is putting them into his golden bowls, too. Then when I feel sad, I can look at that bowl and remember that God has stored up answers to my prayers to bless me when I need it the most. That will lift my heart up to God in praise, and I will know deep inside that he loves me and is watching over me with care. When God answers one of my prayers, I will write that down and add it to the golden bowl and say, “Thank you, God!”
Maybe you would like to find a special bowl or box for your prayers, too! Let’s try it together!
Until our next campfire, I’m sending you hugs and kisses!
Montana Gramma