pray

pray: to address a solemn request of thanks to a deity or other object of worship

My Uncle Danny told me recently that, "Some day there will be a time in your life that you will bow your head to pray."  Danny isn't a particularly religious man, but he does feel that no matter what your faith may be, there will come a time that you ask something greater than you for help.  I am skeptical of this-- mainly because there have been a lot situations in my life that one might see worthy of prayer, and yet prayer never helped, so eventually I gave up.  Asking an invisible friend or pandering to a dogmatic belief in nothing isn't going to help your crapy situation, and well, seems kind of selfish.

Thinking this way has made me a little pessimistic. Well, let's be honest, a lot pessimistic.  What I often forget though is that prayer without a deity comes in a very different form...prayer without a deity is ACTION.  You make the choice to do something, to give someone a second chance, to fix a broken situation, to perceive things differently, to react in an ameliorable way.  You have control, well maybe not always, but you have some shred of control over your actions and perceptions.

So with this is mind, I have been thinking a lot lately about if I were to pray, what would I pray about, when would I pray for it?  So, wanna know the only situation that I could think of so far? You're going to laugh. It was during the drive from Boise to Idaho Falls for a roller derby game, our car left late and there was a good chance that if we didn't make it in time we couldn't skate. Speeding along the freeway, I was thinking to myself, "okay if I were going to pray, I'd do it now. Good Lord/Controller of Whatever, please help us make it to the bout on time, oh please, oh please help us." When if fact, it was Highway's led foot that got us there on time. Phew!

Crazy, huh?  True, but I'd rather practice prayer through action.  In the future, I vow to better see the choices I have in sticky situations, I vow to take positive action when/where I can, and above all, I vow to let go of the things that I cannot control and instead change my attitude.