Chapter 1 is titled “What good does it do?”—something we've asked in the quiet (or noise) of our hearts, but the author recounts a time when he said to his then-teenager, “Let’s pray” (about a missing contact lens). In response she
… burst into tears. “What good does it do? I’ve prayed for Kim to speak, and she isn’t speaking”Indeed. What good does prayer do? Doesn't God already know what we need before we ask?Kim struggles with autism and developmental delay. …[S]he is also mute.
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The author does address that question, and many others. I'll tell you about this other part from chapter 4, “Learn to talk to your father”—related to Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Kim got her first speech computer when she was five years old. … We explained the keys to her and waited. She leaned over and pressed the key with little McDonald’s golden arches on it. It was two o’clock in the afternoon, and we’d just eaten lunch. We dropped everything, leapt into the car with Kim raced off to McDonald’s, and got Kim a hamburger and a soda. We were thrilled.What a lovely picture of our heavenly father's delight in giving good gifts to his children!page 58
Another thing that's impressed me so far: when Jesus says we need to become like little children, we also need to pray like little children. Quiz: How do little children ask for things?
Well, messy might be a good word. They ask distractedly, repeatedly, annoyingly; they ask with abandon, without pretense or consideration. I used to hang around with a guy who said his default method of praying involved listing a dozen or two things he wanted from God. And he talked about that as though it were a bad thing.
But really, if that's on our minds, that's what we should talk about. I'll chew on that one for a while.
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