Only You: Strength Beyond Prayers

How hard is it not to call out to a God when in a foxhole? When suffering, when struggling? And then to boil in anger as the answer doesn’t come. As the blade enters your torso, as the warm blood soaks your clothes. As the call for help goes unanswered.

How easily do you credit small events as celestial miracles? That car almost hit you, but you were saved by the universe. But then, who gave you the idea to cross the road without looking at that moment, and who put that unusually fast car right there also?

When sick with the flu and finally healed, praises go to the Lord of Lords when it’s only natural that you would recover from the flu in time. Isn’t this external reaching – this desperation – a lack of belief in our abilities to survive this world without external help?

The poorest populations are the most religious. Well, why wouldn’t they be if they’re waiting for someone else to deliver their wants and needs? When against the wall, and the tiger growls in your face, how many chances are lost in a moment of prayer instead of a moment of punching and kicking?

How many people perished waiting for answered prayers as the boot came down hard on their faces? When you look in the mirror and see what is – only you and no magical aura or depth – perhaps then you will understand that only you can fix what needs fixing, and only you can fight the mean, striped tigers on the narrow forest trails of life.

Traditions are beautiful, but when it’s your back against the wall, that’s what can shake your world back into place.