Time to chase the dust bunnies off the old blog (again). Sorry I haven't been posting much. I could blame moving, but as that happened over a month ago, it's kind of a lame excuse.
Today's post has nothing to do with politics, really. I just want to write this post because I'm frustrated with myself. Recently I heard/read some off-hand comments of "Just pray about it, and everything will work out." Like most things I took it too personally and got discouraged. Something I've been praying about for a really long time seems just as far off and unobtainable as ever.* It struck me that sometimes we view prayer as our own personal ATM, receiving free blessings without ever having to deposit anything.
Sometimes our desires are beyond our control, and it's not in God's timing to answer them. In looking at verses on prayer, I like this promise from the Doctrine and Covenants: "Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing—yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures of earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof" (D&C 19:38). Notice that this verse doesn't say you'll have everything you ever wanted (i.e. the treasures of the earth) - it promises that you will have the Spirit. Mormons believe that the Spirit, or Holy Ghost, will guide us in paths that are right. Given that gift, we can understand God's answers even if they're not what we expect.
I think, too, sometimes answers to our prayers require our own willpower. We have to do things beyond our comfort zone, beyond what we would normally do, to stretch ourselves and try to create opportunities for our prayers to be answered. Not everything depends on us, but as we have the spirit, we can see what we can do, and perform some self-mastery to really TRY. It's my firm belief that through the enabling power of God's grace our efforts will be magnified.
I hope this post doesn't come across as disparaging of prayer. Prayer is an important component of my inner religious life, and some sacred and personal experiences with prayer have taught me that we have a loving Heavenly Father who cares about hearing our thoughts. So, I'll try to dust off my willpower along with this blog, and stop being discouraged.
*Disclaimer: not marriage. Just in case you were thinking it, 'cause I'm getting up there in years. (Tangent off my tangent: I was thinking a great theme song for singles wards would be U2's "I Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For")
Today's post has nothing to do with politics, really. I just want to write this post because I'm frustrated with myself. Recently I heard/read some off-hand comments of "Just pray about it, and everything will work out." Like most things I took it too personally and got discouraged. Something I've been praying about for a really long time seems just as far off and unobtainable as ever.* It struck me that sometimes we view prayer as our own personal ATM, receiving free blessings without ever having to deposit anything.
Sometimes our desires are beyond our control, and it's not in God's timing to answer them. In looking at verses on prayer, I like this promise from the Doctrine and Covenants: "Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing—yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures of earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof" (D&C 19:38). Notice that this verse doesn't say you'll have everything you ever wanted (i.e. the treasures of the earth) - it promises that you will have the Spirit. Mormons believe that the Spirit, or Holy Ghost, will guide us in paths that are right. Given that gift, we can understand God's answers even if they're not what we expect.
I think, too, sometimes answers to our prayers require our own willpower. We have to do things beyond our comfort zone, beyond what we would normally do, to stretch ourselves and try to create opportunities for our prayers to be answered. Not everything depends on us, but as we have the spirit, we can see what we can do, and perform some self-mastery to really TRY. It's my firm belief that through the enabling power of God's grace our efforts will be magnified.
I hope this post doesn't come across as disparaging of prayer. Prayer is an important component of my inner religious life, and some sacred and personal experiences with prayer have taught me that we have a loving Heavenly Father who cares about hearing our thoughts. So, I'll try to dust off my willpower along with this blog, and stop being discouraged.
*Disclaimer: not marriage. Just in case you were thinking it, 'cause I'm getting up there in years. (Tangent off my tangent: I was thinking a great theme song for singles wards would be U2's "I Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For")
thanks for this post, Diana. I have been trying to improve my prayers a bit as I struggle with some things and I think with your idea of willpower I just might be able to. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it, Stacey!
ReplyDelete