Wrinkles

Kyleigh walked out into the garage. "I want to wear my new blue shirt, Mom. Did you wash it?" Mom, who was stripping paint off a desk, looked up and nodded. "Yes, I washed it. It's on a hanger in the laundry room, but it needs ironing. It's pretty wrinkled.""I can do that," said Kyleigh. "I'll call for help if I need it." She hurried off and got out the iron.When the shirt was pressed, Kyleigh showed it to her mom. "Look! This shirt was a wrinkly mess before, but it's all nice and neat now!"That night at dinner, Mom asked Kyleigh to say the blessing. "Thank you for this food and our home and..." Kyleigh paused. "And please be with Dad. Amen." "Something on your mind?" asked Mom as Kyleigh glumly passed her the potatoes.Kyleigh shrugged. "I just don't know how to pray for Dad. I wish he wasn't in jail, but I'm afraid if he got out he'd just keep doing the things that got him there in the first place."Mom nodded. "I know what you mean." She pointed at Kyleigh's shirt. "That iron sure took care of all those wrinkles, didn't it?"Kyleigh looked down at her shirt. "Um, yeah, but what does that have to do with Dad?""Well," said Mom, "the Holy Spirit does the same thing with our wrinkly prayers.""Wrinkly prayers?" repeated Kyleigh. "What are those?""They're the prayers we're not sure how to pray," said Mom. "We don't know everything that's going on in someone's life or the best solution to a problem, but God does. When we pray about those things, we might be afraid of asking for the wrong things sometimes because we can't see the whole picture." "Kind of like my messy, wrinkled shirt?" asked Kyleigh. "Exactly," said Mom. "But when we pray about things that are unclear or confusing, the Holy Spirit irons out the wrinkles so that, before God's throne, they make perfect sense." Mom squeezed Kyleigh's hand. "Keep praying for Dad, Kyleigh. God knows exactly what you're trying to say, and you can trust Him to do what's best."-Gayle J. Thorn