Of Ants and Contacts

Hey, Y'all,

I don't remember where I've read this little ditty before, but today it seemed to hit me differently. You might have run across "the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens"--a fairly inconsequential and fluffy little story about God granting the request of a hiker who'd dropped her contact lens and, after frantically and fruitlessly searching for it, prayed that He'd help her find it. [Little editorial comment here: I'll admit it; ordinarily, these stories make me cringe, because out here in "grown-up world" things don't always turn out OK, and we're usually talking about things somewhat weightier than lost contacts].

That being said, this time I saw something completely different--and thank God for that! (you hate to think that maybe you get too cynical or stressed or too sophisticated to be surprised or to hear from God unexpectedly). So I'm "ho-humming" through the story "blah-blah-blah lost contact, blah-blah-blah prayed, blah-blah-blah spotted the contact only because it was being held aloft by an ant," and then it hit me: a mental image of this little-bitty ant lugging an enormous contact lens.

And then I thought of the other prayer being offered simultaneously: "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this big ol' whatever-this-is. I can't eat it, I can't use it for anything that I can see, and it's awfully heavy. But, if this is what You want me to do right now, then I'll gladly carry it for you."

Wow. Floored by a silly story. But think about it for a second. How often do we get completely self-centered in our prayers and act as if we were the only spoiled children---err--people on earth? Is it possible that there might just maybe be other facets to what we think is solely our story that we are completely unaware of--but that God is fully aware of?

I love the idea of those two prayers intersecting at our Heavenly Father's In-box. It would probably do me some good to at least occasionally stop praying/whining "please please please" long enough to instead pray like the ant, "Lord: I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good coming from it, and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, then carry it I will, and I'll do so joyfully, until your will is accomplished." How much better of a prayer is that? And how much better of a way to live is that?

You've been prayed for today...