RELATIONSHIPS July 25, 2005 Issue

THAT EXTRA BONUS

PATRICIA KADICK, STAFF EDITOR

IT CAN BE LIKE putting the cart before the horse! Selfish prayer, that is. It's obvious that a cart cannot pull a horse. And the idea of a horse pushing a cart is truly absurd. But until I felt the confidence unselfed prayer gives — prayer that yearns first and foremost just to know about God and hear His direction — I hadn't seen a connection.

I've now concluded that praying to God mainly to find my self is almost like trying to pull God along behind. Prayer, after all, should be learning of God, from God Himself, for the sheer joy of grasping the fact of His unfathomable everywhereness. For the delight in hearing His turn of phrase, His humor; feeling His love and care; and glimpsing His creating.

You see, I used to throw myself into prayer to understand that as God's child, spirituality, health, and happiness were all mine. I'd give myself prayer treatments, memorize sections from the Bible and Science and Health, study the Christian Science Bible Lesson, even get on my knees. But only when I got my priorities straight did I feel what Jesus perhaps meant when he said, "Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matt. 6:6). And that priority, I found, was starting with God to know God. Then, yes, I did find myself — as His satisfied spiritual daughter, and so much more.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

SENTINEL WATCH

RAPID RESPONSE INSTEAD OF REACTION