Prayers In Heaven
Posted by The Pastor on July 24, 2008
One of our members sent an email to me that touched me. I thought I’d share it here.
I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, “This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.”
I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world. Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me, “This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.”
I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. “This is the Acknowledgment Section,” my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.
“How is it that there is no work going on here?” I asked.
“So sad,” the angel sighed. “After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments …”
“How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?” I asked.
“Simple,” the angel answered. Just say, ‘Thank you, Lord.’”
“What blessings should they acknowledge?” I asked.
“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness … You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day . If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation … You are ahead of 700 million people in the world. If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world . If your parents are still alive and still married …you are very rare . If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you’re unique to all those in doubt and despair.”
“Ok, what now? How can I start?”
“ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.: ‘Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share it with.”
Now, I know this may not be a theological masterpiece, but it does prove a wonderful theological point. If we offered as much thanksgiving as we do requests, we would all be much happier. And if we offered as much thanks as God deserves, then both God and we would be a lot happier.
Thanks for the reminder Mandy!
week (July 13th) we will be enjoying the series "Messages from Mayberry", a four part series on lessons learned from Andy, Barney, Aunt Bea and Opey.
