Praying With Leigh

   My favorite moment recently was praying with Leigh.
   When we say our nightly prayers as a family, sometimes we say vocal prayers, each taking a turn to speak to God about our gratitude and intentions.  Whenever Leigh goes, she speaks on and on; she prays for every sick person in the world, for every hungry person in the world; for every thirsty person in the world; for every person in the world in prison, and so on.  Sometimes the rest of us start to shift in our seats and yawn.  She realizes that she is taking too long.  So she winds down and says "Amen."
    So a few days ago I said, "Leigh, I would really be blessed if you and I could pray together, and you pray for as long as you want, about every single thing that you would like."
    She was so excited, and she kept asking, "When can we pray?  When can we pray?"  So the other night, I asked her to come into my room with me, and we sat down to pray.  She was overjoyed.  She prayed her little heart hour for a very long time--maybe half an hour.
    She has an amazing heart.  She has a tremendous love and respect for every person, and cannot imagine why people mistreat each other.  What stood out to me the most, however, was that she prayed on and on about purity: "Lord, help us not watch or see anything but Christian shows or movies; help us not to speak words except loving ones," and so forth.  She is truly an amazing child.

For having been a Christian so long. . .

     For having been a Christian so long, Faith is STILL such a hard topic.  How do you pray with faith?
I was recently praying for something, and the reading that day was Jesus calming the storm.  He told the disciples that they should have had faith.  So I prayed, "I have faith!"  But what exactly does that mean?  That I am sure that God will give me exactly what I am asking for?  No.  That I should beg, and then He will give me what I am asking for?  No.  No begging, as though to twist God's arm.  That is, to my mind, strictly forbidden.  As though we could manipulate God!
    Last night, it finally came to me: Christ was the only on on the boat--indeed on the planet--who could have calmed that storm.  Only God can accomplish something like that.  Christ chastised the disciples for not knowing that He could accomplish the task and then asking for what they knew He could do.
    To pray with faith is to say: "I cannot do this; as much as I can do is still not enough.  Only you, God, can make this happen.  It is not that I have a share and You, God, have a share.  No, God, it is entirely your doing.  Despite anything and everything I do to bring about this goal, You and only you can provide the grace I am seeking."
   The prayer of faith is the prayer of humility.  It is realizing that we are nothing before God, we are powerless before God, and only God can bring about what is good.
   

Happiness is. . .

Happiness is:
1) Having gotten 12 hours sleep
2) Having already exercised for the day
3) Loving your spouse as much as you did when you were engaged. . . or more
4) A three year old singing "Hide it under a bushel. . . NO!" at 6 AM while you are trying to say your prayers, and letting her song become your prayers
5) Having been truly loved by somebody (when I need a little reminder that I am loved, I think about Granny Ruth)

Test Last Saturday

     Well, Jake took the test yesterday, on Saturday.  There were SO MANY APPLICANTS, more than usual.  I think his mathematical chances of getting in are 9%. 
     So in my sadness about those odds, I have leaned heavily upon this beautiful story:
     "Mother Pauline traveled to Sao Paolo to serve the most marginalized: orphans, children of slaves, and the elderly abandoned slaves. . . [But she was removed from her post by the bishop and made to work until her death as an underling.]  Pauline labored as an underling until she was recalled to a humble, hidden life at the mother house.  Diabetes claimed a finger and then an arm, and blindness followed. . . 
     "Before her death in 1942, Pauline left this testament to her sisters: 'Be humble.  Trust always and a great deal in divine Providence; never never must you let yourselves be discouraged, despite contrary winds.  I say it again: trust in God and Mary Immaculate; be faithful and forge ahead!'  In 1991, she was canonized as the first saint of Brazil."
     It is one thing to hear the message, "Trust in God, and do not be discouraged."  But it is another thing to hear it from someone who was so poor, falsely accused, misunderstood, and enduring such physical hardship.  She is right!  We can trust and must trust in God!  Trusting in divine Providence--that is the key.  Nothing happens in vain.  Everything, EVERYTHING, is for a reason!