An Introvert’s Prayer on the Day of Community Group

Father—

Tonight Jana and I will host a group of wonderful people in our home. I’m so thankful for these people, for they are Your people. They love you and they love us. They are considerate and polite, always thankful to us to be in our home. They have, in every way, accepted our hospitality with grace.

Nevertheless, it’s going to be a difficult evening. It always is for an introvert like me. Mud will unintentionally be tracked in. Something will likely be broken by accident. A kid (likely my own) with slippery fingers will spill some food. And you know, with my sinful heart, that it would be much easier and more comfortable for me to be by myself, happily sitting in solitude.

I am fighting with myself today, as I do most Wednesdays, and my selfish desire for convenience is strong. And that’s really what it is. I hide behind my introverted personality to mask my selfishness. Forgive me.

I pray, in faith, against the desire to rush people out so that I can watch TV. I pray that when the meeting is over, you would help me extend the same grace to my tired family that I do to the people in my home. You know how often I have snapped at my kids or gotten angry with them as the hour draws late. I want badly to fight this; please help me.

Help me fight with the power of the gospel. Help me to remember that it was inconvenient for You to send Your Son to the earth. Help me to consider Jesus who was the means by which You extended hospitality to me at my time of greatest and mot helpless need. Help me to remember that through the cross, You have taken me into Your own home and given me a seat at your table.

When I was a stranger, You welcomed me in through the gospel.

Save this introvert from his selfish desires. Thank you for the gift of my friends, my church, who not only aid my sanctification with their words and teaching and prayer, but with their very presence.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

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Michael Kelley lives in Nashville, TN, with his wife, Jana, and three children: Joshua (10), Andi (7), and Christian (5). He serves as Director of Groups Ministry for Lifeway Christian Resources. As a communicator, Michael speaks across the country at churches, conferences, and retreats and is the author of Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal: A Boy, Cancer, and God; Transformational Discipleship; and Boring: Finding an Extraordinary God in an Ordinary Life. Find him on Twitter: @_MichaelKelley.