Good afternoon,
I hope you had a great weekend…we’re only five days away from the next one. 
)
I’m not sure if I’ll have a poem to send out this week, but I thought I’d share what was on my mind this morning instead.
Where’s My Coat?
On my way to work this morning, I was mulling over the various things taking up space in my mental. The things I’m working on and the things trying to work on me. I got to thinking about a few of the concerns about which I had recently prayed. We spend this time praying about things we want, things we think we want, things we think we need, changes we’d like to see in ourselves and in the people and things around us. At times, we make these specific requests, phrased in a particular way, with the hopes of an exact outcome. We speak and ask and cry, but that’s only half of the equation. As my Dad pointed out last week, we often forget to listen for the answers after we’ve asked these questions. And then when we do “listen,” we’re really only listening for what we want to hear in the way we want to hear it. It struck me this morning regarding something I had prayed about, talked about, complained about and everything else. It occurred to me that the response to this prayer actually might have come quite quickly, if I were to choose to accept it as such….which I previously hadn’t. I’ve been so busy wondering what happened and being hurt and upset about events as they’ve happened. But really, it’s exactly what I asked for. So either I wasn’t really prepared for what I asked for, I didn’t really want it, I only wanted it to happen my way or some combination of the three.
So, I see it like this…
You pray for a leather coat to keep you warm during the winter. November comes…December comes…January…you’re into February and still no leather coat. So much for God listening, huh? Well, what were you praying for exactly? Were you praying for warmth, with the leather coat being your preferred choice for how to achieve that? As you sit there on a sunny winter February day, you overlook how the temperatures have been uncharacteristically warm since November. Temperatures have been warm enough that the coats you have in your closet already, turned out to be sufficient. Did you get a leather coat? No. Did you need a leather coat? No. If what you prayed for was warmth, that’s exactly what you were given. It just didn’t come in the way in which you thought it originally should have. I think we can, at least I can, get so focused on the method with which prayers are answered that we lose focus on the fact that the prayer was answered and the need was met. It may take awhile, but maybe eventually I’ll get the hang of not missing the leather coat in favor of appreciating the warm days.
Have a good week!
