Don't pray without something to carry it in

The mountains were calling this past weekend, and we answered their call.  One of my husband's latest hobbies is the challenge of fly fishing. We drove to a wooded area and found a rushing creek with a series of placid pools, hopefully filled with a bounty of trout.  We pulled the car on the side of a dirt road, ready for adventure.

Bill retrieved his pole and fishing stuff from the back of the car, assembled the pole, and tied a fly on the line.   As the supportive wife that I am, I tied on my shoes, kissed him good-bye and started running up the dirt road that bordered the creek.  The trees were so densely packed together, the very sky was green.  I ran in this paradise, up to a trailhead, and then back down the road, literally up one way and down the other.

I was on my way back to the car, relishing the views handmade by God, when I realized that while Bill had all his fishing stuff, what if he actually caught one?  He was fishing without expectations.  We had not so much as a plastic grocery bag to carry home a fish or two.  As I ran, I imagined sitting in the passenger seat, holding a fish in my lap.

And I thought about how many times we pray, how many times we lay our cares and needs and troubles before the LORD, and don't really think He will answer.  We pray without expectations -- with not so much as a Target bag to carry home His answers.

When I was in college so many years ago, my friend Linda really wanted to attend the Valentine sweetheart banquet the following weekend.  "Please pray that I can go," she asked me.

I prayed, but I also made other plans to take Linda and some other friends out for pizza and a movie, a consolation prize, as it were.  There was no way she was going to be asked at this point, I surmised.  Whoever was going to be asked, had already received an invitation.

Meanwhile, Linda prepared for the banquet, hemming a dress that she borrowed from a friend and even buying a new pair of shoes.  Oh, she is in for a big disappointment, I thought.

I was sitting in a history lecture on Thursday afternoon, two days before the event.   The professor droned on and on, quite mesmerized by his own grasp of the subject.  The guy in front of me had begun bobbing his head, moments from sound sleep.   It had begun to snow, and I was watching the snowflakes dancing through the window.

Suddenly, I was aware of a figure jumping up and down outside in the hallway, visible through a long narrow window in the closed door.  It was Linda, bursting with joy.  Two minutes later, the bell rang.  Linda darted in the room.  A guy she knew from a class had called and asked her to the banquet.

"Thank you for praying," she giggled with excitement.

I was so embarrassed.  I prayed, but without any confidence in what God could do.

Fish with expectations.  And pray like you mean it.

Pray expectantly.


I am the LORD, your God,
the one who brought you
out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide
    and I will fill it.

                 Psalm 81.10