Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Thursday, March 28, 2013

Pray and Stay Awake


I went away to school.
Far away.
It was the most difficult four months of my life.
But I learned a lot.
Most importantly, I learned that I really don’t like to be away from family.
All I could think about was being home.
I learned a lot about prayer in those days.
It got me through.
My five roommates were great. Supportive, fun, encouraging, sympathetic.
And they taught me something about prayer as well.
Maybe I should explain . . .
I lived in an apartment with three bedrooms.
Each shared by two girls.
My roommate, Bev, was a sweetheart.
Kind. Sweet. Patient. Soft-spoken.
And very strong in her faith.
It was not unusual for her to kneel in prayer for a long time.
A Very. Long. Time.
At some point, shortly after we became roommates, I realized that she wasn’t praying.
She was asleep.
There. On her knees on the hard old floor.
It couldn’t have been comfortable.
After that, when she had been praying for what seemed a sufficient amount of time, I would make some noise.
Not a lot.
Just enough so that if she really had dozed off, it would stir her.
And save those knees.
Now Bev was nothing if not proactive.
She saw that she had a problem and did what she could to fix it.
She bought a book, ‘How to Pray and Stay Awake’.
I applauded her positive, pre-emptive spirit.
That evening, she sat down happily on her bed and opened her new purchase.
A few minutes later, I glanced over at her.
She had nodded off over her book.
And was snoring softly.
Some things you just can’t fix.


4 comments:

  1. Perhaps it is in dreams that God comes to us, in a form we can accept with a message we can understand. It is the one time our brains are not full of work and family and worry and sickness. Perhaps this is is when He finds a little crack and slips in, does some housekeeping and quietly slips out. Just maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've found myself nodding off whilst on my prayerbones but I can't say that I've actually fallen asleep. That takes a great deal of talent to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did she ever know you were trying to help? What a good roomie :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love reading about your family stories they always make me smile. Passing on a blog award to you:)
    http://lifesadventures-amb.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/facebook-and-award.html

    ReplyDelete

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