One of the comments that I hear all the time with people who do not celebrate the same faith as I is “Do you really believe that there is some guy in the sky who really cares about each insignificant person in this world?”  Well, no.  1.) I don’t see God as “some guy.”  God cannot be quantified in that way.  God is the great I Am.  God is Truth.  God is Love.  Therefore, 2.) In just looking at the very small, yet significant definition of God to which I cling–God is Love–I can very easily accept the immense complexity and profundity of Love, which can account for and validate the people, and subsequently, the petitions of every single human being.  As a trinitarian influencing my reason, it is very easy for me to understand and accept Jesus as the great reconciler and savior, as God made flesh, and the Holy Spirit as the Divine who dwells within us.  How can we say Namaste, and deny the presence of the Holy Spirit?  Isn’t she the light that we recognize in each other?

Even those friends of mine who would never worship God in even the privacy of their homes call upon that name in times of great stress and need.  We look to God in our darkest hours and times of trial.  I petition the presence of the Holy Spirit when I remember that I cannot do it alone, or when my unruly nature preceeds my patience.  In those moments when we send those petitions and prayers, each of us has felt at least once that they have gone unanswered.  My question is, do the petitions from the mouth match the desire of the heart?  Is there something greater going on that will manifest itself later as an answer to that prayer?  Perhaps, in letting the heart speak, stripped of ego and the walls that can entomb it, we will be open to receive the desires thereof.

Mark 2:1-12. Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?

A paralytic has his sins forgiven. Jesus sees into the hearts of the scribes who are critical of his forgiving the sins of a paralytic. Then the paralytic receives the gift of being able to walk.

One might assume that the paralytic’s friends brought him to Jesus to have his legs healed. But I think that just as he did with the scribes, Jesus saw  into the heart of the man and knew it was forgiveness he sought, not walking. The miracle of walking was a bonus gift.

I can compile a list of the things I want God to do for me, my family, and my friends. He hears my petitions throughout each day. I imagine he has my prayers and supplications memorized.

He also peers into my heart to thoughts and feelings I may not acknowledge. It occurs to me that  my family and friends have long held me up and  carried me spiritually, often with diligence and creativity, toward our Lord when I could not do so alone.

I must examine my heart to find what God  already knows. Asking forgiveness will be my first request. Then I will be more capable of carrying others to him.

I thank You for listening to the petitions of my heart even when I haven’t the words to speak them, nor ears to listen.