Saturday, June 29, 2024
Whenever someone is in distress, we pray for them by imagining a turnaround. If they are hospitalized, we imagine them walking away from their hospital beds, eager to live and thrive. But the turnaround we seek might be a turnaround within ourselves, not necessarily within the circumstance. My best friend, who passed away after an acute illness, never walked away from his hospital bed, even though I tried hard to see him walking again. The image of him living wouldn’t leave me, even after he died. Acceptance is what healed me.
Prayer begins with an equanimous understanding that all is as it should be. Begging and bargaining is a freaked-out misunderstanding that something isn’t as it should be. Prayer is healing. It’s surrender and acceptance. It’s a turnaround in you. If it turns around in the circumstance, that’s great; but don’t count on it. Count on your ability to turn around if need be. Have faith that you can accept it because eventually you will have no choice.
You always come around. Unwanted or wanted, coming around is an eventual wanting. It’s wanting to make peace with situations and people. It’s wanting to accept ephemerality, lack of control, and that wanting something is simply not enough to make it happen. Life offers us no solidity, no guarantee, and nothing to lean upon except our ability to turn around.
Those who refuse to turn around – they are doomed to lose the so-called fight. Those who are malleable, flexible, and willing to let things come and go, (like the wind) – those are the real prayer warriors. They don’t hold on to results. They remain steadfast in their quick agility and to let go and accept even if it seems unwanted. Your greatest prayer tactic is to turn reality into an ally. The rest is begging for a fight.