In my good friend Rod Olson’s discipleship study for Coaches, Legacy Builders, there is a lesson that rocks my brain every time I go through it. It’s called “Seed Planters”, and a main theme of the lesson is that in the agricultural process, man has a role and God has a role. It is man’s job to plant seeds and nurture them, while it is God’s job to turn those seeds into a crop to be harvested. I have absolutely no idea how God takes a seed that is planted and cared for and turns it into corn, potatoes or squash. But it’s safe to say that if the seeds are not planted or not cared for properly, the crop will fail to develop.

According to Rod (who takes his cue from Jesus), the discipleship process works similarly. Man has a role: plant seeds of faith in others with words and actions, and nurture those seeds with prayer. God has His role as well: take those planted/nutured seeds and produce the fruit of life change. We don’t have the power to change people’s lives. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

The one part of the process that I struggle with often is the prayer part. Knowing how many people I could and should be praying for can cause me to feel like I’ll never get to them all. At that point, prayer, one of God’s greatest gifts to us, can become discouraging and even feel like a burden. I feel pressure to fulfill my responsibility to all the people that the Lord has put in my life. Then the downward spiral begins as I begin to feel guilty about the fact that I’m viewing prayer as a burden. So what do I do?

When I get to that point, I think it’s important for me to take a step back. To remember who God is, and who I am. Jesus promises that when we accept His invitation to be yoked with Him, the “burden will be light” (Matthew 11:30). I need to realize the pressure I feel is self-inflicted, that God knows I won’t pray perfectly, and that I can be content with doing the best I can. I also need to realize that prayer takes time, and that I can take joy in cultivating an amount of margin in my weekly schedule that allows for at least one or two periods of extended, focused prayer. Wow…now that I think about it, that might be the most significant point I’ve made in this entire ramble. Doing this well is going to take time, and building my prayer muscles is time very well-spent.