March 12, 2010 Devotional
Pray Naked
by Rebecca Mulvaney
I hadn’t slept in a college dorm for a very long time, but visiting my college freshman for the weekend promised to be a cool mother-daughter experience. I’d forgotten about the nocturnal cacophony of excited voices in the hall, blasting stereo music, slamming doors, and occasional tearful sobbing over a broken heart. My first night in the top bunk of my daughter’s “loft” was practically sleepless. I heard the comings and goings of female night-creatures until the morning light winked through the window.
As the sun rose higher, the dorm seemed to be going to sleep. But my internal clock (which was obviously in a different time zone than these 19-year-olds) told me it was time to get up. I headed for the not-so-private hall showers. To my relief, the community bathing room was empty. (I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of disrobing this middle-aged body in front of any innocent freshmen, who were still naïve to what decades can do to a body.) I undressed and slipped behind the curtains along the row of showers before me. I sighed with relief as the hot steamy water pelted my pores with wonderfully harsh pressure.
That’s when I saw it. Through the steam, above the shower-head, I could read the laminated handmade sign. “PRAY NAKED.” Below those two words was a calendar. On each day of the month was a suggested person—for whom I could “pray naked,” our president, a sibling, Madonna. But my eyes kept returning to the top of the poster, dripping with water droplets. PRAY NAKED. Of course. I had not succeeded in completely hiding myself after all.
I can hide behind this shower curtain from the rest of the world, but I cannot hide from the One who made me and knows me better than I know myself. When I come before His throne of grace to pray, to talk, or to cry out to Him, I am, in the truest sense, naked. I cannot hide anything from the One Who sees all. I am stripped of all that I hide behind—my excuses, my sophistication, my defenses, my facades and pretenses, my rationalizations. Once stripped, my shame and embarrassment over who I really am is exposed, but then I receive the rich, warm cleansing shower of his grace. How wonderful and freeing it is to know that we always “pray naked” to our Lord who sees us as we really are and, with forgiving love, listens to all that we have to say to him.
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13
Reflect & Respond:
Pray out loud this week, and as you tell God how you feel and share what’s on your heart, listen to how honest (or dishonest) your words are.
Is there something you wish you could hide from God? Can you lay it before Him now, knowing that you can receive “the rich, warm cleansing shower of His grace”? Spend some time enjoying this moment.
Rebecca (Bekah) Mulvaney admits to liking
chocolate & Diet Dr. Pepper too much, being
motivated to gain others’ approval & admiration,
and losing her cool with her husband. (And
those aren’t the worst on her list, because the
internet is no place to get that “naked”!) As she
regularly gets “naked” with God, she receives not
only His love and acceptance, but also His grace
to be used as a teacher, writer, and nurturer of
relationships. Bekah can be reached at
rmulvaney@cox.net.