The Right Outcome

The real problem with praying is that we want to control the outcome.  So often prayer is not a moment of entering into a conversation with God, but a moment for a monologue in which we tell God about some issue which is troubling us and then we proceed to tell Him what He needs to do in response to that need.  It is not enough that God gives us His ear and His heart, we want to make sure He also gives us the right outcome.  And, of course, the right outcome is what we have decided is the best outcome.    

When Wendell Berry wrote "Jayber Crow,"  he grew a character who had an encounter with the Lord's Prayer which changed his spiritual life forever.  "After you have said, 'thy will be done,' what more can be said?  And where do you find the strength to pray 'thy will be done' after you see what it means?"  Such was how Jayber spoke of his dilemma.     Of course, most of us avoid the spiritual crisis of this bachelor barber by never really learning to live with the question.  We know what God needs to do, and if He will only listen, we will tell Him.     

Living inside a faith that only asks for the will of God to be done in our lives is never an easy thing for us.  While we might say that all our praying is framed by this petition, we are also heard to say things about how God is so good when we get our outcome, but seldom, if ever, are we heard singing such a refrain when nothing about the outcome resembles our praying.  Maybe prayer is more about submitting than getting.  Maybe it is more about being in the presence of a loving and compassionate God than it is about getting a particular outcome.