Prayer -- What's Up With That?

Well, this is the next of the publishable blog ideas on my stack. Let's see if I can blog while inebriated (yay, Lent is over; guess what I gave up for Lent?).

So, prayer. How do we expect that to work?

Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.

We offer up our wishlists to Santa Claus God, and He fulfills them?

Sounds outrageous.

However, check this out: Luke 11:1--13. So, there it is: ask, and you shall receive. Outrageous.

(Luke rawks. It's my new favorite, replacing Matthew.)

Gosh, it would be nice to win the lottery.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, for my life, for my health, for my children and all the people who support me, even though I don't deserve it.
I confess I am not worthy. I am lazy because I am afraid and I have no faith. I am selfish because I am caught up in the rush of my everyday life, and I too quickly move to escape when I get home from work.
Please, watch over those who are near to me: the people in my bible study group, who share their issues every week; the people they would like me to pray for, whose stories are all so much sadder than my own; my ministers, who carry the burden of the church: congregants in the hospital (dying), homeless people (sinking ever deeper); my various friends who are facing their own crises; the family of that minister who committed suicide last year; and all the people of the world who are facing such crushing pressures, of starvation and oppression.

Please, Father, if you can spare a little energy for me (and I know you can, because you're infinite), watch over me and energize me as I try to get through this divorce. Watch over my children and warm their hearts as they cope with their parents fighting like this. Please take care of us all, near and far, worthy and unworthy.

I ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who died for me, even though I don't deserve it, and who I accept as my savior and [eh... doubt... doubt...] Lord.

Amen.

Ok, there it is, my standard daily prayer. Well, it should be my daily prayer, but I'm happy if I remember it twice a week.

So, now what? Do I wait for an answer in the mail?

Once, when I was a child, I ate a whole lot of Quisp. Remember that? In the Cap'n Crunch family. And, you could save up a bunch of boxtops and send them all in for a gun that shot clouds of this neato white power (I think it was cornstarch or flour). So I did.

I ate the requisite amount of Quisp. Several boxes, saving the boxtops.

I put them in a envelope, along w/an order form, and mailed it (physically) to General Foods, or whoever was doing that offer.

And waited.

And waited.

Oh, the anticipation.

After six weeks (an eternity, when you're 10 years old), my cornstarch-shooting gun arrived. It was great! Cheep red plastic, special "white powder" (that when you ran out of, could be replaced with flour). A little "click" sound, and a puff of white powder came out. It totally rocked!

I soon lost it. I wasn't particularly heartbroken, because my mind was on other things.

Is that what prayer is like? We send the boxtops, we wait for the response, maybe for a long time? We have faith that the mail will eventually deliver?

It somehow feels cheap, and yet.... we're praying for real things. Never mind our own desires. World peace. Warmth for others, who really need it.

. . .

Well. Yeah. That's exactly what prayer is. We ask God for stuff. It is outrageous.

It's an external focus. He may answer our requests. He might not.

Why doesn't he? Because we ask for something that wouldn't be beneficial to us. Or we ask for something that would be detrimental to others. Or, we need to learn to be happy with what we have.

Or... just because! Who are we to guess what's on God's mind?

So, now I find myself in the position of saying "feel free to ask God for anything, just don't expect him to grant it. But ask anyway!" Totally outrageous. How can I expect any sane, rational human to fall for this?

:)

But I do.