As you read this on July 10th  -- I know some of us read them in advance or after the date has passed :-) -- my youngest daughter and I and some others are on a service trip in Wyoming working at a camp facility that provides a wilderness experience for teens who otherwise wouldn't be exposed to God's majesty in the mountains of the west.  As I reflected on the gospel reading, I could easily imagine the pain the synagogue leader felt at the death of his daughter.  Stephanie gives us such joy, and she is full of life.  To see her die would be a wrenching experience indeed.  What struck me when I placed myself in the scene was that in the midst of his deep anguish, and considerable faith, when the grieving father approached Jesus, he first "did him reverence."

How many times do we come to God with petitions and prayers and neglect to first revere and pay homage?  The Psalmist for the day promises that "Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever."  Buddy Holly wrote a song that stated "It's So Easy to Fall in Love."  I think because we are the people we are it's so easy to take God for granted.  It's so easy to forget to praise before we ask.  It's so easy to be focused on ourselves, even when our prayer is apparently for the other (was the father praying for his daughter's resurrection for all the experiences she could have through life or so his own pain would be lessened?).  BUT - it's so easy to praise God's goodness before we ask.  It's so easy to be in awe of God before we mention our needs.  It's so easy to tell of God's wondrous deeds before we tell of our own troubles.

And so my prayer for today is to do the easy thing, to sing praise before I sing woe, to reverance before I petition, to place myself in
awe of God's immense greatness before I focus of my own insignificant needs.