Monday, July 12, 2010

the simplest and the hardest thing

The talks in Sacrament meeting yesterday on prayer were outstanding. The Spirit settled in the room and whispered to me, Yup, this is true. Do better with this. You’re struggling more than you need to. And then I remembered some specific words from my patriarchal blessing: the Lord is standing by ready to help.

Thing is, I do pray. All the time. But my heart is not always there and I sometimes doubt God’s ability to help. Why I think that I do not know as He has intervened so many times in my life. I’m just arrogant and prideful, that’s all. Thinking my own strength is sufficient to see me through.

And sometimes I think, Heavenly Father you see this thing in my life, this stuff I am going through? And He always answers, I do. And I always think then why do you require me to formally ask for help? And He has let me know it’s because there is something important and profound in the asking. He, is afterall, the source. I always have His attention, but prayer, the asking, the dialogue, the heart yearning, well it gets my attention. And It doesn’t take long before I start to see things I never saw before, to feel things differently, to do things differently. Until I forget all over again.

I think the struggle is there for all of us. None of us does prayer perfectly. But the consistent and reflexive dropping to our knees is perhaps the most important way we live out our faith.

None of us is wise enough to make it on our own. We need the help, the wisdom, the guidance of the Almighty in reaching those decisions that are so tremendously important in our lives. There is no substitute for prayer. There is no greater resource.

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Your Greatest Challenge, Mother,” Ensign, Nov 2000, 97–100

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