Prayer

Why is prayer important? I can rattle off the theological reasons, I could... I have a bible and a cathecism in the back... but I won't... I will tell you why prayer is important to me, right now at this moment. I have beautiful friends, friends whose strength, intelligence, and kindess overwhelm me. Somebody once asked me how I could have so much wisdom at such a young age; it was never my wisdom, but those peoples wisdom. They all have given me so much. They are truly gifts from god. But so much pain exists behind them, so much suffering. And as much as they help me, I cannot even begin to help them. Sometimes, they close themselves up, and will not allow themselves to be helped. Other times, they simply cannot be helped by me. But no matter who it is, what burdens they carry I can pray for them.

I pray because I love them. I pray cause its the only thing I have to give them. And I have faith that God shall make my prayers worthy of them.

Hope

Joy in the face of the unknown. I have never known what my birthday or chirstmas gifts are going to be; but they are always from people I know and love; therefore, I know there going to be good. Why do we trust that what where going to get is a good thing? What makes us so certain?

Hope

Why does Paul mention hope? What is the difference between Faith and Hope? Why is it so important to be mentioned?

Faith deals with what is known. It deals with what we know about God. We know that God loves us. We know our friends would never hurt us. Hope deals with the unknown. We have not idea what where getting for our birthdays, or what the afterlife is going to be like. But because we have love and faith, we are filled with joy at its arrival. Indeed, we learn to relish the mystery of our loved ones. We wait with annticipation for the arrival of our presents.
In some ways, Hope is the most contentious of the Virtues for Western Civilization. We, as a people, want to know whats going on. We have access to science and all the information of mankind, literally at our finger tips. For our people, knowlegde is truly power, and boy, do we have alot of power. So it feels unatural to celebrate the unknown mysteries of family, friendship and god. What could possibly be good about not knowing what the future holds for us. But, as healthy adjusted individuals who have faith in our loved ones, we understand that their is good reasons for us not knowing; to highten joy perhaps, or because its not ready, or perhaps were not ready, who knows? Belive in your loved ones, Hope in them. Do not fear the mystery, but embrace it.