The Wishing Tree

There is a Wishing Tree in San Francisco.

A few years ago, Vanessa wanted to change how she felt about the Christmas season because it wasn’t something she looked forward to. So she set up a table with tags and markers and invited the neighbors to stop by and write a wish. Ribbons and lights hang from this Victorian Box tree along with dozens and dozens of handwritten wishes.

“I wish for all the flowers to bloom.” 

“I wish that everyone would have a roof over their head and food to eat.”

“I wish for love and peace in the world.”

“I wish for lavender because it smells nice.”

“I wish for every super power in the world.”

“I really wish for a puppy.”

There they dangle, fluttering and spinning, all sparkly and bright on this small street in this great city.

But . . .

What if we had prayer trees?

Years ago I read,

“We carry around great big baskets of wishes that never become prayers.”

What if instead of wishing for things, we prayed?

As Christians we are called to pray. Called to pray to the One who hears every whisper and sigh. Who listens to every secret longing and desire. Who bends low to every man and woman, boy and girl.

So, let’s start a prayer tree. Let’s write our prayers on tags and hang them with bright, beautiful ribbons from the nearest tree. Let’s watch them dangle and spin and twirl knowing that the God of all creation who sits enthroned above our lives, is pleased that we trust Him with our hopes and dreams and desires, whether it’s for puppies or lavender or those who are hungry.

It’s 2015. What will you be praying for this year? Not wishing for. Praying for.

I’m praying for homes and husbands and humility. (The humility is for me, not for the husbands; although, hmmm.)

And this year, I’m praying right when I’m asked to pray and right when God brings it to my mind. It’s ok to add it to my list, and pray for it the next time I sit and have my quiet time. But what about right now? Praying right now. At church or on the phone. In Starbucks or over lunch.

Yes, God knows our hearts and our love for the ones we will pray for later.

But, and here’s the mystery of it all, isn’t heaven mobilized to act as we pray, NOW?! Not wishing, praying. Right now! Aren’t God’s angel armies released in supernatural ways as we speak words of hope and healing and freedom for the one who has asked to the One who has the power to do ALL THINGS?

We do see through a glass dimly, in these feeble bodies and in these fragile times. But someday, someday, God will pull back the veil and we will see the influence and impact our prayers have had across the miles and over the years.

Not because we have wished it to be so, but because we have prayed to the One who can make it so.

There is a greater Power for hope, inspiration and love. It can be written down with a marker on a simple tag. It can dangle and skip from an old Victorian Box tree. It can be about flowers and roofs and peace in the world.

But it’s not a wish. It’s a prayer.