Something Powerful

The first time I heard an atheist talk about believing in prayer, I thought perhaps I was being mollified. I didn't understand what the appeal of prayer was to an atheist, but as I listened to what was being said, I certainly had to agree that he knew what prayer was about from my perspective.

This reinforced my belief that atheists are simply like people from Missouri, the Show Me State. Someone from Missouri once told me that he believed only half of what he saw and nothing of what he read. That was the same person who advised me that, “If they find you with a smoking gun, standing over a dead body, you need to admit nothing, deny everything and ask for more information.” In that lifetime we quickly adopted the advice as the modus operandi of some Teamster's Local of the AFL CIO. But I digress.

Prayer is the most powerful tool we have to communicate with the Universe. At prayer’s most basic level, it’s wishful thinking. Have you ever thought to yourself, I wish I could have blank (fill in the blank with anything you have ever wished for)? That’s a prayer. Wishing or hoping or wanting something, when you think the thought of desire, it is a prayer. You don’t need to get onto your knees and say, “Dear God; please! If I could only have that lovely, wonderful most beautiful kazoo, I would never ask for anything again!”

People who know me, know that I believe prayer works. There, I’ve said it. Why do I think people are shaking their heads, saying, “Oh that poor man. He is delusional.” I guess I’m self-conscious.

I don’t know how prayer works. I don’t know why it works. But I believe it works. I don’t know how or why TV and satellite radio work either, but I know mine work. If I had to understand how things worked for them to actually work, I’d still be a caveman with a ball and a stick trying to create a game called baseball. I know how baseball works! It’s TV, satellite and prayer I have problems explaining.

Let me try this explanation for prayer. I believe prayers work because of the power of positive thinking. I believe the book The Secret and almost everything it has to say. If you want something, the first thing you need to do is acknowledge you want it. That’s the first part of a prayer. Then you visualize it. Imagine having it and what you would do with it. The more time you spend doing these things, the more quickly anything can be brought into your life. If not, you will realize why you really didn’t want it in the first place and why.

Is there a god that grants prayers? I believe in god but I don’t believe god sits on a throne, listening to peoples prayers, doling out what s/he believes is the right thing for each prayer. That’s not how I believe it works.

God doesn’t really want to get involved. S/he has much more important things to do than to be responsible for the wish granting of humans on planet earth. But the Universe is a wonderful organism! It knows that thoughts are things too.

Prayers are thoughts but all thoughts are not prayers. I can think about how my son is doing; or what I’m going to have for dinner; or how much I really want tickets in the upper deck behind home plate for the next Rockies World Series game. One of these is not like the others. The last one is a prayer; several actually but let’s discuss specifically Rockies World Series tickets in the upper deck behind the plate.

Once that prayer is out there in the Universe, what is important is how much will be gained from the experience. Everything needs to be balanced. There are no coincidences. The more I want these tickets, the better my chances of getting them — an answered prayer. The more people want a prayer, the better the chance of it being answered. If you could get three or four billion of your closest friends to pray for me to get tickets in the upper deck behind home plate for the next Rockies World Series game, I guarantee it will happen.

The prayers that get answered are the ones where lessons can be learned. There are lessons to be learned from every experience but how the universe decides which lessons should be learned at which times is way beyond me, like satellite radio and TV. But I believe the Universe makes the decision and prayer influences the Universe’s decision. Call it the Universe or God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, Divine Being, Creator, your higher power or Fred; whatever.

We’ve all heard about miraculous recoveries from cancer and diseases that should have killed people. Also, miraculous survival from an accident that should have killed people. These are answered prayers and they happen every day.

Admit it. You have miracles in your life. Be grateful for them. The Universe is on the job, doing the impossible, even the miraculous, answering our prayers, sometimes without our even knowing it! They’re the miracles in life. Thank you Universe! I am grateful for your generosity.