First Discourse in Matthew: Ask, Search, Knock

Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! ~ Matthew 7:7-11

We learn through pain that some of the things we thought were castles turn out to be prisons, and we desperately want out, but even though we built them, we can’t find the door. Yet maybe if you ask God for help in knowing which direction to face, you’ll have a moment of intuition. Maybe you’ll see at least one next right step you can take. The response probably won’t be from God, in the sense of hearing a deep grandfatherly voice, or via skywriting, or in the form of an LED-lit airplane aisle at your feet. But the mail will come, or an e-mail, or the phone will ring; unfortunately, it might not be later today, ideally right after lunch, but you will hear back. You will come to know. ~ Anne Lamott: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

We are currently reading Anne Lamott's Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers in our book club.

 I've learned a lot from Anne about prayer: that it isn't a magic bullet; that it helps us remember that we are not in control; that God meets us in our messiness...

 That God answers prayers, even if it might not be in exactly that way we were hoping...

 Even if it seems like God's got a strange sense of humor in answering them. (or when at the time, it might feel like God is giving us a stone or a snake instead of bread or fish).

 And yet once we've walked all the way through the valley, we usually find out that God had a better idea of what we needed.

 God gave us the courage to face what seemed to be impossible.

 God healed in ways we didn't have imagination for.

 God met us, held us, and then showed us something even greater than what we in our limited scope had asked for.

 Sometimes we even discover that God used us to answer the prayers of someone else.

 Jesus isn't giving here a quick fix for our prayer life: no magic bullet to get what we want.

 Instead Jesus is showing us a God who listens and gets involved and understands...

 And knows best just what it is we need.

Meditation: Spend a few moments in silence thinking of the times God showed up in your prayer life in unexpected ways.

Popular posts from this blog

The Gospel of Mark: Women at a Distance

There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.  These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. ~ Mark 15:40-41 Where have all the disciples gone?  What about the crowds? Whose left? Some women. Standing at a distance. These two verses have always been poignant to me. We get so little in any of the gospels about the women following Jesus. But here's what we know about them. First, they paid the bills. And second: they stuck around. They would be the ones to watch Jesus die and the ones to visit his tomb. One of the things I've noticed about Mark is how he is able to say so much about people even by using so few words.  About Judas we know his character despite getting so little about him. About the woman who anoints Jesus, we know her generosity despite not even knowing her n...
Read more

Transformed through Courage: Esther

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying,  “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.”  When they told Mordecai what Esther had said,  Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”  Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai,  “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my beha...
Read more

The Gospel of Mark: The Crucifixion of Jesus

They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.  Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull).  And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it.  And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.  The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”  And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.  Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,  save yourself, and come down from the cross!”  In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himse...
Read more