September 11: Day 73

​STEP ELEVEN CONTINUED: Seek through prayer, meditation, and contemplation to improve our relationship with the Divine, praying for clarity of mind, an open heart, and further ways to heal ourselves and our world from the abuses of religion.
 
Instruction: Accept the answers.

Perhaps we give too much credit to The Divine. When something goes right, we praise The Divine. When something goes wrong, we blame The Divine. Much of life has been set in order and takes care of itself. We don’t have to ask our Higher Power to make the grass grow. It simply does, and will, and no amount of prayer will make a difference. Likewise, there are many things in life that have been set in order—gravity, the rising and setting of the sun, birth and death. Instead of blaming and praising The Divine, what if we simply tried to align our thinking and our lives with the Universe and let things play out as they will? What if we could accept the answers we received in our conversations with The Divine instead of insisting that we know what is best for us? This might not be a popular position on prayer, but all we ask is that consideration be given to the concept of aligning our thought life with that of our Higher Power.

Does The Divine have human emotions like we do? Does The Divine get angry, sad, disappointed, or frustrated with us? Is The Divine patient, loving, forgiving, and accepting? I want to say “no” to the first two questions and “yes” to the third question. One thing I do feel confident about is that The Divine only desires what is best for us. There is no malice or hatred in The Divine’s dealings with creation. When we converse with The Divine, we can trust that we are heard and that our prayers will be answered. Just like a parent with his or her child, our Higher Power’s answers might be “Yes,” “No,” Maybe,” “Wait,” or “I’ve got a better idea.” Learning to accept those answers is the challenge. Do we respect parents who give into the demands of their children, even when the parents know that what the child wants, he or she is not ready to handle? Even so, if The Divine can be manipulated in prayer to give us things that are not in our best interest, what kind of a Divine Presence would that be? Let us keep up the conversation, and if we feel we must have answers, then let us learn to accept those answers knowing that The Divine is wiser than we are.
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Take a moment to consider how we respond when we feel as if The Divine gives us any other answer than the one we want. Do we pout like children who didn’t get their way? Or, are we patient and willing to see how things play out?