LAST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK

        When facing a seemingly insurmountable challenge in life, finding our back against the wall, all secular answers and escape routes tried or closed off, beset on all sides by fear and a perceived negative outcome, we become willing. From this nadir of spirit, the spark of faith bursts into life. In truth it was always there, buried beneath conventional thinking and secular beliefs. When faced with the insurmountable, having exhausted the conventional, we are left only with what was once unthinkable, the unseen power at the heart of everything and we begin to pray. Perhaps we have not prayed in years or ever prayed in a religious sense. Perhaps we believed ourselves to be agnostic or a conversational atheist effectively leaving the question of God simmering on a back burner, only to find life has turned up the heat and the pot is bubbling over.
     
      Though perhaps surrounded by people mouthing the usual platitudes, we feel alone, lost, trapped, the walls closing in, no apparent way out. So we begin to pray. We make sure we are alone, unseen. We may even feel guilty, a hypocrite for all those times we disparaged those “holy rollers”, for having felt superior to those weak willed church goers, having gleefully engaged in schadenfreude when a religious figure fell from favor. Having found ourselves at the court of last resort, bereft of any more “good” ideas or plans, we pray.
     From this moment of trepidation, one book closes and a new one opens. We quickly find that the universe does not make too hard terms for those who earnestly seek. That God will make himself known to us, if we ask. The Great Carpenter taught that upon this mustard seeds worth of belief, a deeply rooted strong spiritual life could be grown. Our job to remain open minded, honest and willing to learn.

    Having stepped on to this path, does it mean our prayers are answered in the manner we outline? Doubtful. All prayers are answered in the positive, but our vision is limited while God’s is not. Spiritual hindsight has shown that many of the things I prayed for, had they been delivered as I ordered them, would have caused more trouble and problems down the road. A prayer will never cause pain or unintended consequences, so it is not that the universe says no, but it will not say yes to anything that may cause harm, intended or not. Additionally should we rush out and join a church or proclaim ourselves members of a religion? Only if in your heart of hearts you are moved to do so and your motives are right in so doing.

     There are many questions about life and living that are beyond our ability to comprehend, God will Deliver, if asked, for our birthright is to be Happy, Joyous and Free.