Contract With God - When Even Prayers Need to be Precise
My prayer was `please God, I need a great job', most of us pray like this or to some extent along these lines. Time and again when we are in a fix or caught in a situation where we think only Divine intervention can help, we often focus on what we need. No, that's perfectly all right. I did, too. I asked for a great job and landed one, too, in 2006. My prayers were answered. Thank you, God. Only after starting work there I realised that I should have worded my prayers better. It should have been - Please God, I need a great job in a location with no traffic jam, less than 30 minutes from my house, with great work culture, superb bosses and lots of job satisfaction. Trust me, I know what you all are thinking but after starting work there I realised that I had short changed myself.
It took me almost 3 hours daily commuting to and fro my office; it was a start up so work culture was somewhat uncertain, though eventually became great. Had a few Bosses (for everyone's peace, I will say everyone of them was great 😝) and job satisfaction came a few years later. I remember while driving through horrendous traffic one Friday evening after a heavy downpour, I was practically cursing every driver who irritated me - people cut into my lane without signal, water clogged roads and other equally irritated drivers refused to allow me to cut in away from the water...oh, you name it. My elder daughter, who was studying for law at that time was in the car with me. She sat stone faced till I think she could not take my cursing anymore.
'Is your job great, ma?' she asked.
`Yeah, it's a wonderful job, I got the kind of job that I prayed for' I answered, swerving to avoid a motorcyclist who was having his day weaving in and out of traffic, in that drizzle.
`Then, why are you cursing as if there's no tomorrow?' she asked.
`Can't you see, how bad the traffic is and it is such a nightmare navigating through' I replied, quite irritated.
`But, ma, you did not ask for a great job where the office is located in a less traffic place, did you?' she asked again. I was silent. She had a point. 'That's why people use lawyers to draft agreements, right?' she asked again, softly. Ouch!
This time, I turned towards her, still unsure what she was driving at. `Well, asking God for something is also like making a contract with Him. You need to specify precisely what you want, and not ask for one thing and expect God to figure out the rest. Your prayers need to be precise', she actually said all that with an expressionless face.
Though, for a moment I was a proud mother of a future lawyer, it did make me feel intimidated - a kid that age telling me that my prayers need to be precise so God can give me what I wanted exactly. But she had a point. While we are in a tight squeeze, we often put in one prayer to get out of it, not realising that once out, we may need more complementing things and the prayers continue. I stopped cursing after that, drove through the bad traffic in silence.
I am sure many of you are like me. Champions of non-precise prayers! Now, years later, wiser to the core, it's time I end my singlehood, so let me pray to God again - please God, send me a great guy with all muscles, looks to die for and makes every other woman die of jealousy, a few inches taller than me, minimum a Masters degree, earns good money, is settled for life, no encumbrances, no ex-wife in the shadows or even kids, a great kisser, atrociously superb in bed, ever romantic, wonderful household help, dances Dabke well (non-arabs welcomed, too), sexy butt...wait, I heard a click! Was that God hanging up on me?
It took me almost 3 hours daily commuting to and fro my office; it was a start up so work culture was somewhat uncertain, though eventually became great. Had a few Bosses (for everyone's peace, I will say everyone of them was great 😝) and job satisfaction came a few years later. I remember while driving through horrendous traffic one Friday evening after a heavy downpour, I was practically cursing every driver who irritated me - people cut into my lane without signal, water clogged roads and other equally irritated drivers refused to allow me to cut in away from the water...oh, you name it. My elder daughter, who was studying for law at that time was in the car with me. She sat stone faced till I think she could not take my cursing anymore.
'Is your job great, ma?' she asked.
`Yeah, it's a wonderful job, I got the kind of job that I prayed for' I answered, swerving to avoid a motorcyclist who was having his day weaving in and out of traffic, in that drizzle.
`Then, why are you cursing as if there's no tomorrow?' she asked.
`Can't you see, how bad the traffic is and it is such a nightmare navigating through' I replied, quite irritated.
`But, ma, you did not ask for a great job where the office is located in a less traffic place, did you?' she asked again. I was silent. She had a point. 'That's why people use lawyers to draft agreements, right?' she asked again, softly. Ouch!
This time, I turned towards her, still unsure what she was driving at. `Well, asking God for something is also like making a contract with Him. You need to specify precisely what you want, and not ask for one thing and expect God to figure out the rest. Your prayers need to be precise', she actually said all that with an expressionless face.
Though, for a moment I was a proud mother of a future lawyer, it did make me feel intimidated - a kid that age telling me that my prayers need to be precise so God can give me what I wanted exactly. But she had a point. While we are in a tight squeeze, we often put in one prayer to get out of it, not realising that once out, we may need more complementing things and the prayers continue. I stopped cursing after that, drove through the bad traffic in silence.
I am sure many of you are like me. Champions of non-precise prayers! Now, years later, wiser to the core, it's time I end my singlehood, so let me pray to God again - please God, send me a great guy with all muscles, looks to die for and makes every other woman die of jealousy, a few inches taller than me, minimum a Masters degree, earns good money, is settled for life, no encumbrances, no ex-wife in the shadows or even kids, a great kisser, atrociously superb in bed, ever romantic, wonderful household help, dances Dabke well (non-arabs welcomed, too), sexy butt...wait, I heard a click! Was that God hanging up on me?
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