Week of July 1, 2002
Nancy E.

".. for the Lord searches all hearts,
and understands every plan and thought."
Chronicles 28: 9b

I am reading -- working my way through -- Peter Ellis' twenty plus volumes of "Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul" at Shewsbury". In one of the books, Brother Cadfael says, I have been about the world long enough to know that God's plans for us, however infallibly good, may not take the form that we expect and demand.

I am a very organized person and delight in planning things. I expect things to work, or be done, the way I plan them. Most of the time, these characteristics are to my advantage. There are times, however, when I get too caught up in the checking of details, schedules, and the following of plans. In fact, I get so busy I loose track of the overall goal/results. A good example follows:

For a long time, I have been praying for something for someone else. Tagged onto my prayers for benefiting another person have been, of course, that if that person were happy it would also make me happy. Recently, God answered my prayer. However, not in the form I anticipated!

In fact, it took me a period of time to realize that my prayer had been answered because I was too busy looking for the answer I wanted. I didn't t realize an answer had been given. The person I had been praying for recognized an answer to prayer had been given and was indeed very happy with it.

God heard my prayers, searched my heart, and understood my plan and thoughts. However, in his wisdom he knew that the way I designed the prayer to be answered would have made me happy but not the person I was praying for.

God, I do believe that you answer all my prayers. Give me the patience to wait for your timing and the wisdom to recognize the answers when you give them. Amen

Contributed by Nancy E.
Published Monday July 1, 2002
Week 31 of Liturgical Year A