Asking for little things…

The Lord remembers us and will bless us.

Psalm 115:12 (a) ICB 

He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us… You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created.

CS Lewis

If you’ve read many of the Paths of Joy Daily Inspirational Blog’s, then you know that I enjoy “rock hounding” (the slang term for looking for/collecting interesting rock specimens). Before visiting Death Valley National Park last winter, a friend and I took a back road to a place said to have many small fossils in rocks in a canyon. We took some unplanned time-consuming wrong turns and weren’t sure exactly where we were supposed to go, but late morning brought us to a spot where we had to walk a ways, then scramble up a canyon.

By the time that we went quite a ways up the difficult shale slope of the canyon, it was getting rather warm in the sun and we weren’t finding a thing. We wanted to get to Death Valley before the day was too far gone, so we started working our way down the canyon. It was difficult scrambling and rather toasty, so we would stop every so often and make a minimal effort to turn over a few rocks in hopes of finding the apparently elusive fossil specimens.

At one such stop, I prayed a silent prayer that God would let us find just ONE little fossil, whether it was my friend or I that found it. Though I would like to tell you that we found many interesting fossils, that wasn’t the case, but God DID allow us to find one good fossil and a second moderately interesting piece. In addition, my friend found an amazing small piece of crystalized petrified wood.

Sometimes, we try to do things on our own power instead of asking the One who can help or bless us. My Christian friends will be able to relate when I ask how many times have you lost keys, tried desperately to remember where they were (with no luck), but then finally prayed…only to find them almost immediately after praying. I think God chuckles at our silliness in trying to do everything on our own, when he is just waiting for us to ask him so that he can supply our need or give us a sweet small blessing…

So, the next time that you are attempting something of even trivial importance all on your own…remember that help is just a prayer away!