Sticky Notes & Prayers
“Would you keep me in prayer?”
“Please pray for my loved one.”
“I could really use prayers right now.”
Have you ever asked someone to pray for you?
Have you ever asked someone to pray for a loved one?
My mom was the person people asked.
The Gold Velour Chair
When I was little, I could often find my mom sitting in the gold velour chair in our living room…praying.
Sometimes she held a rosary.
Sometimes she held a photo album. (I’ll explain that one in a bit.)
Sometimes she pressed one or both hands against her forehead while she prayed quietly. At the time, I didn’t realize I was witnessing one of the greatest ministries of her life.
Spiritual Companion to Prayer Warrior With a System
When my mom was in her early 70’s, I asked her to serve on a women’s retreat I was directing.
Even though my mom did not have formal training as a Spiritual Director, I knew she would make a wonderful Spiritual Companion with the recommendation, approval, and guidance of our parish priest, Fr. Jack.
Fr. Jack continued to nurture and encourage my mom in this ministry, and she went on to serve on nearly a hundred retreats afterward.
She became known as a Prayer Warrior for not just the retreats, but throughout her communities of church, family, and her grandchildren’s school and sports teams.
No matter where — at a school event, at a doctor’s appointment, a restaurant, or in the church parking lot — people sought my mom out to ask for her prayers.
One day, I had a parishioner tell me how much it meant to her that my mom called her the day of the medical procedure that she had asked my mom to pray about.
“She checked in to see how I was doing, and offered words of encouragement, wisdom, and scripture.”
In awe of my mom’s memory, I finally asked her one day,
“Mom, how do you remember all of this?”
She smiled and said,
“I have a prayer system.”
Then she opened a simple college-ruled spiral notebook.
There were sticky notes and notebook pages filled with names, dates, and prayer requests.
Next to many names were checkmarks and follow-up notes from after she prayed or checked in with the person.
My mom wanted to make sure things were okay, while also learning if she needed to adjust her prayers with any updates.
The notebook wasn’t the only place holding sticky notes of prayer reminders.
When I had to clean out my parents’ home, I not only found her notebooks, but I also found sticky notes throughout with names, dates, and prayer requests.
My mom had strategically placed pads of sticky notes and pens throughout the house so that at any moment’s notice, she could jot down details of her conversations with people and would then transfer that info into her payer notebook.
But she still held on to the sticky note. She would mostly put them on the refrigerator to serve as a reminder to pray.
The refrigerator became command central for prayer requests.
Love Remembers
My mom continued to serve on women’s retreats as a spiritual companion well into her late 80’s.
She also continued to serve as the church coordinator for flowers, candles, weddings, funeral services, and altar cleaning, even doing some phone work from the nursing home in her final years.
When my mom became blind during the final three years of her life and moved into a nursing home, people still called asking for prayer. She even had her own “Talk Show With JoJo” every other week for the nursing home residents where she presented a meditation, and of course, prayer.
She could no longer see her notebooks or sticky notes, but she still prayed faithfully and followed up with them.
Her ministry didn’t end when her strength faded.
Flowers faded.
Candles burned out.
Retreat weekends eventually ended.
But the legacy of her prayers lives on in the people she loved.
Prayer was one of the greatest ministries my mom lived out.
My mom never made it to her 90th birthday party here on earth, missing it by two and a half months.
But after a lifetime spent carrying so many people in prayer, I can only imagine the welcome party she received in heaven.
And now, whenever someone says,
“Would you keep me in prayer?”
I think of her and her prayer system.
I think my mom understood something I’m still learning:
prayer is one of the quietest ways we can love people well.
And sometimes the smallest acts — a notebook, a follow-up phone call, a name written on a sticky note — become sacred acts of care.
Maybe a sticky note on the refrigerator can become holy ground.
Do you have a prayer system?
In honor of my mom’s legacy, I’m sharing a simple sample prayer system inspired by hers in case it helps you love and remember people, too. Use it as inspiration to create your own!
Lastly, I want to also share another little “system” my mom had for her prayer cards.
Today, I’ve seen “Holy Card Prayer Books” sold online, but years ago, when I was a little girl watching my mom pray in that gold velour chair, her prayer book was actually a small photo album. (Once Dollar Tree Stores opened in the neighborhood, she was a regular and these types of photo albums were her constant purchase!)
Instead of photos, though, she filled it with her favorite prayer cards.
She carried an album in her purse and would pull it out while sitting in hospitals or doctor’s offices waiting for a loved one — or even for herself.
To bystanders, it may have looked like she was flipping through family photos, but she was praying.
Another beautiful part of her prayer system.
Friend, thank you for being here today, and thank you for journeying with me remembering my mom’s prayer life! Now, I’d love to know…
Do you have a prayer request that I can pray for you?
Let me get a sticky note & my notebook! (wink!)
Blessings,
Bonnie 🤍
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