Inkling

Someone once said, “Pray as if all depended on God and work as if all depended on you.” Somewhere in the middle of all that is likely a balance for the spiritual life. It’s the like the story of the woman who was ill and received a visit from her church friends. At the end of the visit the friends told her that they would be praying for her. “That’s all well and good,” said the woman, “but I’d like it even more if you could empty the dishwasher and do a load of laundry.”

I guess it would make us wonder about the topic of our prayers. Do we end up with a yearning to understand not what we want God to do, but what God wants us to do? “What fruit, Lord, do you want me to bear in this situation? How can I be a faithful disciple through the concerns I have?” At the end of the day, as Lewis mentioned earlier, it won’t be God who has to answer for his deeds, it will be us. God has done all he could – dying on the cross. Now what about us? Has God’s saving grace resulted in our loving fruit? This will be the crux of the matter.