Making a Prayer Calendar for 2020

Pray the Lord would be an ever-flowing fountain of delight
to their souls. "[W]hoever drinks of the water that I will give him
will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become
in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14b

 Right after Thanksgiving, my three day marathon begins. First, I search through thousands of photos of our year looking for thirteen poignant pictures, making sure, of course, each of my children is equally represented in the collection. That’s only the beginning of the process. Then I have to remember my password to Sam’s Club online photo center, a test question that usually ends in failure and the chance to make a new one (to be forgotten in the future). I upload the photos and then navigate through a busy website to craft together a photo calendar—the one “homemade” gift I offer at Christmas. In all, it takes about three late nights spent crouched over my laptop, typically as I sit on the floor in the dark while playing hall monitor and trying to bore my children to sleep. A neck ache is typical side effect, but the multitasking is a must. Every year it’s the same process, and yet every year I do it. Why?

At face value, it continues to be an appreciated gift that covers our bases for at least ten people, enough to make it worth the work.  The one year I decided to take a break and not make a calendar, my grandma was so disappointed she reused our old calendars, taping up her condo’s monthly activity calendar under her favorite pictures. We took the subtle hint. The next December I endured the neck ache, and grandma and about nine other people unwrapped shiny new calendars on Christmas Day.

However, what I realized this year in putting together our fourth family calendar is that it benefits my own heart more than it does our gift list.

Our calendar isn’t just a photo calendar. My husband and I were uncomfortable with prospect of making our kids “poster children.” We wanted to create a calendar that would feed souls, not just eyes. When we had our oldest child dedicated at our church, we were given the booklet “Praying for the Next Generation” by Sally Michael. In it, she talks about the importance of praying intentionally for your children using the words of the Bible. To help parents get started, she listed out twelve main prayer themes, and under each theme cited many applicable Scriptures to meditate on and pray through. Twelve themes, with Scripture—twelve months of the year, with photos of children in need of prayer. The idea for a prayer calendar was born.

Putting together our photo prayer calendar involves the process of looking at my children and discerning what they need most and what we desire most for their lives. At the most commercial time of the year, it is a project that forces me to put aside sales ads and toy wish lists and instead think through what is most important: the spiritual state of my children’s eternal souls. What do we want for our children? We want them to be saved by Jesus Christ at a young age. We desire them to love the Word. We pray they will walk in the ways of God. We hope they will grow in inner beauty and courageous character. We long for them to treasure Jesus Christ above anything else this world has to offer. And we cannot make any of these good desires happen by our own might or action. It is God who must act.

By putting together this calendar, I am reminded of how much my children stand in need—and how little I can give them. It is a reminder of my dependence on God and His mercy, and a call to prayer. By typing my prayer requests into a calendar and then handing it out to our family and closest friends, I’m asking them to join my husband and I in praying that God, in His infinite power and strength, will do what we cannot do. It helps us to remember how and what to pray—not just for our four children, but for other children, for family and friends, and for ourselves. It is a gift that seeks to refocus our eyes on what matters most according to God’s Word.

It may be too late in your gift-giving ventures this year to think about a photo calendar, but I would encourage you to ponder this question: what do my children need most? Or, what do I most want for my children? Jot down your answers. Look up Scriptures to help you define and undergird your prayers with truth. Put them on sticky notes where you will see them—the bathroom mirror, the kitchen cabinets, even your wall calendar (photo or not). If you need ideas, consider buying “Praying for the Next Generation” to spark your thinking.

Soon it will be time to retire our 2019 House Prayer Calendar. It will go to live with other past photo calendars in the coffee table drawer. Almost every week my children take out all the old calendars and flip through them, reliving memories or asking for stories about times they were too young to remember. Someday, they will notice the printed words underneath each picture—a one-sentence prayer request and a Bible verse—and they will see how, even in these crazy busy years, mommy and daddy and many others were praying for them.

Below are some examples of photos and prayer themes from our calendars:

Pray they will trust Christ as Savior. "[C]ontinue in what you
have learned [...] knowing from whom you learned it and how
from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in
Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:15-16

Pray they will be loving in their relationships.
"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is
born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

Pray they would treasure God's Word.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light
to my path."Psalm 119:105

Pray they will have hearts to see
and delight in God's works.
"O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all."
Psalm 104:24a

Pray they will find unending joy in God. "How precious to me
are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand."
Psalm 139:17-18a

Pray they will joyfully invest themselves in their
God-given vocations. "Whatever you do, work heartily,
as for the Lord and not for men." Colossians 3:23

Pray they will walk in God's ways.
"You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Psalm 16:11

Pray they will desire Christ above all. "Indeed, I count everything
as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8

Pray the Lord will protect them from the evil one and
forces of darkness. "The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out
and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."
Psalm 121:7-8

Pray they will become fishers of men, eager to share the Gospel
with the lost."For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes."
Romans 1:16a

Pray they will hear the voice of the Good
Shepherd and respond to His call in faith.

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me. I give them eternal life,
and they will never perish,
and no one will snatch them out of my hand."
John 10:27-28