Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2, 12-30-12)

Being watchful. I’m assuming that means to be paying attention. That means, in a sense, praying with your eyes open.

It means knowing what’s going on in the community around you, in the world around you. Praying with the insight that comes from paying attention.

I don’t think I’m doing a good job at that. Spending too much time and energy just focused on the church and its needs, maybe national issues, but not local. Which means I don’t know as much as I should about our community–which means I’m not praying “watchfully”.

Need to fix that.

[Father, help me to be more watchful about our community.]