In my first year of teaching, I was still living at home and each night when I arrived home, my mum would have the kettle on to make me a cuppa. It was a lovely routine that I came to cherish.
The making of a cuppa was the gateway for me to sit at the table and talk to mum about my day at school. She would listen intently, while she was preparing dinner for the rest of the family and me.
Mum would ask about all sorts of details about the day, and by the end of the year, my mum knew my class as well as I did.
What I loved the most about this special time with mum was the opportunity to just talk. I’d tell her my daily highlights, my challenges, my ponderings and even confusions. She didn’t always have words of wisdom to give me, but she did lovingly give me time to talk with her most days.
The memory of how delightful it was to come home and talk to my mum about my day came to mind when I read the following from The Devotional Booklet Everyday with Jesus:
“The writings of French Archbishop and theologian, Francois Fenelon have helped us to understand and appreciate that we can be in conversation with God as if we were talking with a loved one or close friend. So tell Him your troubles that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys that He may sober them; tell Him your longings that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes that He may help you to overcome them; talk to Him of your temptations that He may shield you from them; lay bear your indifference to good, tell Him how pride disguises you to yourself and others, tell Him – He’s your friend!”[1]
I love what Francois Fenelon is suggesting in these writings: that if you are open and honest before God, then you will not lack things to say to Him. Just as friends do not have secrets from each other and never run out of conversation, so too are our opportunities to talk with God through our prayers. Those who are in this close, trusting relationship do not weigh their words, for there is nothing ever held back! There is opportunity to talk out of the abundance of the heart; without needing to measure their words, one is able to say what one thinks.
This is the sort of close and intimate relationship we are invited into with God. In the Old Testament book of Lamentations 2:19, it says, “Blessed is the man or woman who attains such intimacy with God and talks to Him as a friend.”
This is our prayer and desire for each of the students: that they will come to understand and experience this closeness of God, that He is the One in whom they can tell any and everything.
[1] Everyday With Jesus - September 9, September – October edition 2021