There is no shortage of prayer needs, right? Churches set up entire prayer chains to pray for people who are either suffering or rejoicing. Friends ask on social media for people to talk to God about everything from emergencies to illness to babies being born.

Our family has a prayer board where we list all these requests. As we walk by the board, we can pray for them. That sounds great, but then I noticed a problem. Sometimes I got so busy praying for the special circumstances in people’s lives that I forgot to pray consistently for the “ordinary”—my pastors and my children’s teachers, missionaries, my work (yes, sometimes I forgot to pray for Time of Grace!), my husband’s work, the courage to witness, friends and neighbors, for peace in our home. Embarrassingly, I was even forgetting to pray for my family.

Maybe you relate. We try to pray for people, but it’s so easy to forget. In the middle of schedules and life and all the urgent requests, we let so many others slip through the prayer cracks.

To remedy that, I made a list of the people closest to me; the causes, charities, and ministries that are close to my heart; and the areas where I want to grow personally and spiritually. Then I just spread them out among the seven days of the week. Now, the “ordinary” gets prayed about regularly.

I’d love to hear what ways you’ve found to pray for the “ordinary” in your life too.

Linda Buxa is a writer, Bible study leader, and retreat speaker. And since she created a chart a few years ago, she’s a regular pray-er too.