The Point of It All

There’s a moment we all feel I’m sure of it, when we ask ourselves something like, “what is the point of it all?” And we tend to think our answer to that question has something to do with how our morning went, or the stresses we are undergoing at work, or perhaps a recent confrontation we have had with a loved one. But the truth is, how we answer that question is intimately related to our prayer lives.

After all, the way we see things is always connected to the way we see God. And if you are not seeing Him in your everyday amidst the conversations and the stories you see being lived out around you, then I daresay you are not seeking Him out in prayer.

I say this because it is in prayer, through the use of words and most definitely in the silence, that God somehow prepares the human heart for the tough questions. Maybe it is the meditation of Jesus on the cross that helps us to confront death and the many questions it raises. Maybe it is Jesus’ “forgive them Father” from that same cross that has us looking at all of our relationships differently, especially when those same relationships raise questions that are difficult and somewhat painful to answer.

However it comes to be, we can certainly say that prayer takes the snap out of us, so much so that when we are tempted to ask the kind of questions that lead to a defeated and somewhat hopeless answer, our connection to God through prayer alters things enough.

You see, there are some days when it is enough that a person turn their thoughts from suicide to life. There are some days when it is enough that a person decides to keep trying when their child’s tears are driving them beyond all fatique to simply give up. Prayer, yours and mine, help us to bend a little just when it would make every earthly sense to snap, and because we can move, the Spirit can nudge us just enough to withstand another day’s storm.

“What is the point of it all?” What a great question that is. May we all take some time talking to our God about that, and then maybe as He helps us to bend, posit an answer of our own.