Opportunities

I just really love to watch a movie that makes me think. And I love it even more when the movie isn't meant to be intellectual, just funny, but it makes me think.

Last night Bart, Jason and I watched Evan Almighty after dinner. It wasn't anything any of us necessarily wanted to watch--it was just the only thing on. Anyway, there was this really great quote made by God (a.k.a. Morgan Freeman) that I've been thinking about almost non-stop since watching this movie.

"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

Does that make sense, or does that make sense? I mean, maybe it made sense to you a long time ago, but I have personally never thought about prayer that way. I always thought that, one day, God would finally instill in me the ability to not freak out over everything unsatisfactory that came my way. It never occurred to me that He would want me to PRACTICE not freaking out; that he would want me to PRACTICE forgiveness. How else do you learn how to do something if you don't try it out yourself?

So, I am proud to tell you, I took an opportunity God gave me today to practice my patience when Bart snapped at me about some household chore. I remembered that he has a big proposal for school coming up this week, along with a huge list of other stressful things, and did not mean to lash out at me. He just wanted help. And do you know what? I was PATIENT and FORGIVING without Bart even knowing it! And it felt great!