Thursday, June 23, 2005
The Power of Prayer
Like most girls in this city, I spend a lot of time praying. I’m in the temple of my head a dozen times a day praying for things like invisibility while the Bible-thumping screamer on the subway works his way toward me; praying that I don’t run into that foreign guy I ended-up making out with at Motor City last summer; praying the two lame chicks at work will, between them, get a life and shut the hell up. If you’re like me, you’ve developed a repertoire of personal prayers to help you through the day. Here are a few that work for me.
Praying for Mail
Dear God,
Please let there be a check in the mail today. If not a check then an invitation to something family-unfriendly. Give me the optimism to keep writing letters and help me to understand why I only get one card for every five I send. Also, I know there’s only so much you can do about bills, but please stop the catalogs, which are so wasteful.
Amen
Praying for the Phone to Ring
Dear God,
Please give me the wisdom to know that he is not the one. If he was, he would have called me months ago, after our last date. And if he finally does get around to calling, please help me to remember times like this, and Lord, help me to give him the breeze.
Amen
Praying for Sleep
Lord have mercy, it’s 4:00 a.m. Please God, help me get some sleep. Dispell this dreadful awareness of time passing, turn down the volume on this paranoia, and help me forget the foolish things I’ve done. Also, if possible, please put me in a flying dream with Dave.
Amen
Praying for Strength
Dear God,
Please help me make it up this hill. Fill my heart and knees with your power, infuse my lungs with your good air, and help me to efficiently burn the carbs I imbibed last night, for with this hangover, I fear I’ll never make it up this hill and home before the rain.
Amen
Gratitude goes hand-in-hand with prayer. If you ask God for something,and God delivers, you must thank God. This does not have to be a major production. I have found two simple expressions that work very well.
This one is for big favors: After the passing of a crisis, the minute I make it back to my apartment, or my bed, or just my right mind, I close my eyes, take a deep breath and say, “Thank God that’s over.”
This one is for the sweet things God provides without my asking: When someone like Condoleezza Rice is appointed National Security Advisor, or a hot guy gives me the eye, or my buddy from way back comes through for me, against all odds, for the hundredth time, I say, “Nice one.”
Labels: Boy Stories, cherrybomb
