My Prayer, My Pitch…

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6.

+++

Every day early morning this little girl would come to the church and stand before the Lord, close her eyes and with folded hands, murmur something for a couple of minutes. Then open her eyes, bow down, smile at Christ's statue and go out running. This was a daily affair.  

The Priest was observing her and was curious about what she was doing. He thought, she is too small to know the deeper meanings of religion, she would hardly know any prayers. But then what was she doing every morning in the Church? 

Fifteen days passed and Father now couldn’t resist but to find out more about her behaviour. 

One morning, Father reached the church before the girl and was waiting for her to complete her ritual. He placed his hand on her head and said, “My child, I have seen since the last fifteen days that you come here regularly. What do you do?” 

“I pray, father.” She said spontaneously. 

“Do you know any prayers?” asked the father with some suspicion in his voice. 

“…No father.” Replied the girl. 

“Then what are you doing closing your eyes, every day?” Father smiled. 

*Very innocently the girl said, “Father, I do not know any prayer, but I know A, B, C, D, E, up to Z. I recite it five times and tell God that I don’t know your prayer, but it cannot be outside of these alphabets. Please arrange the alphabets as you wish and that is my prayer.” 

And she ran, jumping her way out of the Church. 

Priest stood there dumbstruck, staring at her for a long time as she disappeared running out.

+++

Do we have such unconditional belief in our prayers or in our pitches?

God knows what we need even before we ask Him. 

“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” – Matthew 6:7-8. 

Someone so aptly said, “In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” 

Therefore, ‘let our Prayer be more from our Hearts than from our Tongues.’ 

Stay Blessed!