First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people.

I Timothy 2:1, ESV

Do you remember your first "real" prayer? While I had been brought up on bedtime and mealtime prayers, it wasn't until I was about six years old that I actually can remember having a selfless and meaningful prayer. Before that time, it was mainly just a litany of memorized prayers such as "Now I lay me down to sleep" and the like. I can even remember praying for myself at an earlier age for some childish wrong that I had done earlier that day (I had taken someone else's shiny rock and wanted to make sure that I was covered against theft) but an actual prayer that was sincere and on behalf of another person wouldn't actually come until a few years later.

We lived just outside of Seattle, and my two-year old sister had contracted a strange blood disease that had placed her in the hospital. My dad was on a business trip to Alaska, so mom left us two boys with some friends down the street while she stayed with my sister in the hospital. I can remember the frantic time before Nancy was hospitalized, with several doctor visits that day and then the anxious waiting by the phone for the call from the doctor's office with the results of the test. I had never seen my mom so worried, and that worry spilled over to a little boy whose previous concern had been mostly for himself.

It was that night at the neighbor's house that I lay awake on a pallet, on the floor and in the dark just thinking about my baby sister. I can remember praying quite sincerely that God take care of Nancy. While I don't remember any of the exact words, I can vividly remember the urgency. My sister was sick, my mom was worried more than I had ever seen her worry, and I was scared over the magnitude of a problem that clearly even mom couldn't handle. And if there was a problem too big for mom, it was pretty big.

And so, in desperation, I prayed a prayer that went beyond the mindless ones that were intoned at bedtime out of duty for my parents, and even way beyond the occasional "help me get out of this mess" prayers that are probably typical of every little boy who has ever lived. This prayer was actually said out of concern and love for someone other than me. And that prayer, combined with the thousands that must have been made by mom and dad and everyone else that we knew, was answered in a most beautiful way. Nancy did get to come home! And though it would be a few years before my little sister ever got back to normal (that is if you can call my little sister "normal") Nancy eventually was completely healed of whatever disease she had contracted.

And I was at least temporarily healed of that terrible malady that afflicts most six-year-old boys: The disease of selfishness!

Maybe this is why God inspired the Apostle Paul to urge us to pray for others. And not just those in our immediate family either, for part of that instruction was that these prayers be made for all people. And while it is obvious that the main part of this command is for the benefit of those we are praying for, there is also a side benefit that should not be overlooked: It is when we take those rare opportunities to actually focus on the needs and concerns of other people, that we actually become the type of people that God wants us to be. And when we acquire this unselfish characteristic, it has a way of making our problems seem so much smaller when we compare them to what other people are going through.

And it is when we start thinking about others that we actually become a person who is worth something. We become more valuable as a friend, and we become more valuable as a servant of God. And sometimes, even a six-year-old boy becomes more valuable as a brother!

These are the types of lessons we all need to learn. They will not only make us better people, but they will make us more focused upon the One whom we are here to serve in the first place. There is one more thing that praying for others will do: It will make us grateful! And a thankful person is a whole lot happier than a self-centered one who seems to think of little else than their own selfish needs. 

Are you praying for others? I suspect you are, and I know that if you are it has made your life so much better for having done so.