Persistence...

I have been praying more than usual lately, a product I think, of the stress in my life right now. But if nothing else comes of it, I have slowly sensed a return of my faith. Yes, it is partly due to seeing results from my prayers, but truly that is not the point. Answered prayer can be hard to find, or at least hard to see because we have such preconceived notions of what those answers might hold. Interestingly, Jesus implied that our prayers would be answered if we prayed like a pest. Yes, I said pest, a gnat is what comes to my mind. Have you ever had a gnat buzz around your head late at night after you have gone to bed? You pay attention because you can do nothing less. The gnat persistently flies around, unaware that you want to go to sleep. Maybe that is what prayer is...pestering God about something that is important to you.

Are we mere gnats to God? No, I think not, but the woman who came to the unjust judge in the story told by Jesus acted like one. And Jesus said that this is how we should pray, in part, I think, because he knew our lives depended on God's help. But we don't pray this way usually, at least not until our life depends on it. We lope along, saying weak prayers until our lives, homes, businesses, whatever are in peril. Even then we may fail to realize the importance of prayer, maybe the result of longstanding guilt for not having prayed harder earlier.

Today, I for one am going to pester God like a gnat, albeit a loving one, to answer prayers that should have been uttered months ago.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz