Lily and God
“Prayer is simply a two-eay conversation between you and God.” Billy Graham, American evangelist
Someone once told me this story. It’s about a little boy whose nanny was very strict. One evening, Joey threw a toy at his cat. Lily, his nanny, put him to bed early. But first, she supervised his prayers. Joey, who was eight, kneeled at his bedside. He said “Now I lay me down to sleep . . . “ When he finished the little child’s prayer, he added, “Please God, bless my mother and my father and my kitty cat. And Lord, please kill Lily.”
The idea of prayer is hard for many. It’s tough to ask our Higher Power for something we feel we need desperately and perhaps not get what we requested. During some tough times, I felt betrayed when I prayed with all my heart and all my energy and the tough times did not just disappear. I don’t know what I expected but nothing was not it. Then I learned that He had answered; He didn’t say “No. He just said, “Not now.”
Sandra, a coworker who was also a single mom, told me about her experiences with prayer. “I figured for a long time that I didn’t believe in God because when I hit the wall and things seemed impossible, I would yell at Him and shake my fist up at Him. “Hey,up there. Do You hear me or not?”
And especially, she said, “I would scream at Him: ‘ You gave me all this to do all alone so You better give me the strength to do it. I’ll do it alone but I need the strength to do all this alone, You up there.” She said she was always so embarressed later and figured she didn’t believe in a higher power and that’s why she was yelling. Years later, she said, she realized that she had more faith than many . She was telling Him exactly how she felt – and she trusted He was listening. Wow, she said. “My faith was there with me all along.”
And then, after looking back over the past years, she realized the big thing. She had the strength to “do it all alone.” Her higher power was saying all along, “Okay.”
Mother Teresa said, “God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.”
Meditation for the Day
“Call on God, but row away from the rocks.” Indian Proverb
Action for the Day
Today, I will call on God, but I’ll also keep rowing while I listen for the answer.
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