| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 8 |
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Is it, then, never hard to pray? Does it cost nothing? Are there no struggles with self, no giving up of desires dear as life, no dropping of cherished things out of the hand, no crushing of tender human affections, in the quiet “Thy will be done” of our prayers? It was something you wanted, but you were not sure God wanted you to have it. You prayed earnestly for it, but you said, “They will, not mine, be done.” The gift did not come, but your desire became less and less intense as you prayed and waited. At least, when it became evident that it was not God’s will to grant your wish, there was no bitterness no lingering struggle, only peace and a song. But did the submission cost you nothing?
Or it was a sorrow against which you pleaded. A loved one was stricken. With all your heart you prayed that your friend might recover. Yet, as you prayed, you were led by gentle constraint to lay the burden of your desire in submission at God’s feet. Slowly, as the days and nights of watching went by, and the illness grew worse instead of better, and when it became more and more certain that your dear one would be taken from you, there came into your heart a new, strange sense of God’s love, and you were calm and quiet. Then, when the sorrow came, there was no rebellion, no bitterness, but only sweet trust. All this wondrous change your praying had wrought in you. It had not changed God’s way, bringing it down to yours, but it had lifted you up into accord with God’s will. Did it cost you nothing?
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