Say A Little Prayer ....

I have been reflecting on the use of prayer lately, which triggered off a discussion with my friend last week. I have always been told that we should not pray for what we want but rather what is best for us, but sometimes how would one know what is best for us? My friend, a regular Christian church-goer, said that only God knows what is best for us. So when we pray, we should ask for guidance rather than wanting things to happen the way we want.

But why is it for some people, whatever they want they are able to get, but for others, they can never get what they want? And every religion and denomination functions and prays differently. When things do not happen, is it the way people pray, or simply they do not pray enough? Yet there are others who do not even go to church except during Christmas and Good Friday, and do not pray except during a crisis, but somehow their prayers can come true.

Of course I am not saying that just by praying without any work on your part miracles will happen because they will not. The effort still must come from youself. So instead of sitting back and just relying on prayer alone, one must be proactive in finding food or shelter or a job or a mate for the family or self. All I am saying is that there are people who try so hard and pray so hard, yet the things they try to do never seem to happen. Then there are people who do not seem to do much and do not pray much yet what they want always seem to happen. Why is that so?

I never impose my beliefs on others as I feel it is each individual's free will to believe what they want. However, once in a while, I will ask my friends if I can pray for them in my own way, especially if they have important affairs which they must succeed in. Somehow my prayers for my friends seem to come true, but mine mostly do not come true. Why is it that when a person tries to lead as good a life as possible, his / her prayers are normally overlooked compared to others who lead a life of sin but yet things are better for them?

Or perhaps I am not staunch enough. But is being staunch the real issue? Christians are also humans who have their own quirks. You see some people being downright selfish and self-centred, yet when they pray, their prayers often come true for their own gain. I know of people who live their lives being nice to others and living as holy a life as possible, yet their prayers often do not come true as well. Times like these I do not wonder why some people just lose faith after a while.

I also cannot be a living example since my own prayers often do not come true. If my prayers come true, my entire life would have a totally new course of events. I would have graduated with first-class honours, or even Masters, been very successful in what I do, found a job that I can stick to, or gotten married years ago.

That is why although I do not like it, I still cannot really blame my ex for scoffing at my beliefs since he is successful in what he does, despite being a non-believer, but my life seemed to be going downhill for a period of time, despite my regular church-going.

But I am not about to lose faith. I still do believe that somewhere out there, there will be something and someone best for me, and I will just continue praying until that happens. Meanwhile, I will explore my options and exercise my own choices, so hopefully I can find a job real soon before I run into serious cash flow problems.