Prayer: Like An ATM?

There's a significant difference between my relationship with my wife and my relationship with the ATM outside our local bank. (Duh...right?) With the ATM, there's something of a predictable relationship of sorts. I feed it the right instructions, punch in the right numbers and codes, follow the right sequence, etc. In return it gives me that for which I ask. If it fails to respond as I've programmed it to do, then I may get mad at it, complain about it in the main bank, and/or avoid it for a while...at least until I come up with some immediate need for cash.

My relationship with my wife does not follow such a formula. Sometimes I ask things of her, but I don't get a programmed answer. I might get the answer I want, or I might be directed in some different way. Either way, I know that love drives her response. She asks things of me as well, and we both expect our relationship to be this way. Most times, though, it's not that we want things of each other; we just want to be with each other. In a very significant way, just being in each other's presence and trusting the commitment we have is really the thing we want most of all.

An ATM and a spouse - what a stupid comparison. Yet how many times do I treat God as an ATM rather than as Someone I love and Someone who loves me. How often is my prayer life nothing more than punching numbers into an ATM screen and expecting to get what I want if I program in the right formula? How often is my prayer life based on the sheer joy of just being in the presence of the One who gave me life and the One who, in and through Jesus, laid down a life for me?

So how's your prayer life? Think about that...heck, pray about it! I'll see you around the next bend.