PrayingWithMyFingers

Dear God,

I am feeling frustration this morning.  So, what do I mean when I say I am feeling frustration?  I am so frustrated, I am not sure.  Let’s see what Webster’s has to say about my “frustration.”  Frustration:  a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs.  Hmmmmmm, that’s pretty intense.  I think we can dismiss the “state of insecurity.”  Not sure about “a deep chronic sense.”  My definition of frustration:  “I am deeply dissatisfied over an unresolved problem and some unfulfilled needs.”

It’s like this, God.  This d—n computer!  These d—g d—s!  Can I use the “D” words?  It is a darn computer and these dang dogs are frustrating me!  Even as I pray to You, one dog is at my feet begging for a kiss and the other dang dog is barking at me and insisting that I play fetch.  Meanwhile, as I am attempting to multi-task on the computer, various web sites are crashing and burning on me all over the place as my Verizon air card continuously disconnects me from my Gmail, Facebook, flsenate.gov.  And, I am frustrated with my own lack of understanding as I try to learn about manipulating photos and explore the blog-o-rama world.  This disconnection problem started last night and I finally had to walk away because I was afraid I would vent my anger and frustration on said computer.  I need my computer to work, and I need these dogs to go home.  (I love them, I do.  But I love them better when they reside with April).

If prayer (even prayer with my fingers) is talking to You, God, then what is Your answer?  Talk back, please.  Really!?  Love??? I guess I can see that in relation to the dogs, but how is Love the answer for my computer frustration?

Oh.  The commandments?  ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Loving You means loving me? So because You live in me, when I don’t love me, (i.e. becoming frustrated and mad at myself because I can’t control everything in my life – computers, dogs, new learning –), I don’t love You. And so when I don’t love me, I can’t love anybody else, i.e. the Verizon person on the phone trying to help me and he/she becomes that annoying voice.  After all according to 1John 4:20,21:  “Anyone who says, ‘ I love God,’ and hates anyone, is a liar, since anyone who does not love people they can see, cannot love God, whom they have never seen.”  (Hope You don’t mind that I fixed those gender references).

So, according to You, Love is the answer to everything?  No matter how non-spiritual the situation?  Just apply Love?  ”Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Ok.  Got it.  Thanks for the reminder.  Now can You just send the message to my computer and the dogs?  They are frustrating the h— out of me!  Heck!!! Frustrating the heck out of me!

photo from:  www.flickr.com/photos/maitexu