What if There's no Answer?

We’ve all made important phone calls, calls where we really needed to get in touch with the other person, only to receive no answer at the other end of the line. It just rings, and rings, and rings. Can be a bit frustrating, to say the least.

It is equally as frustrating when we pray for guidance during a tough time, only to not receive an answer. Or I should say, seemingly not receive an answer. Many’s the dark night, both figuratively and literally, when we are mired in one of life’s challenges and we pray (beg??) for some answer, some guidance to see us through the problems we encounter. None of us gets off scot-free in this world from experiencing tough times.

I don’t profess to have the solution to this question. I ask it a lot. Lately though, through the lens of hindsight, it seems like there may in fact have been answers to my “unanswered” prayers in the past. It just may have taken a different form than what I was expecting.

Ah…expectations. We always have them. We pray for an answer to a tough challenge, and then we expect that lightning bolts will come down from the sky, and a chorus of angels will descend with the solution. Or, we think the answer will hit us over the head with something obvious.

The answer that we seek may not be so obvious. Sometimes, the answer may just be the time and space we suddenly have to cry, and get out our frustration or sadness. Or, maybe it’s just allowing us to cry, after we’ve pent up all our woes for so long. Tears can be a source of relief for many of us.

Answers can take the form of an act of kindness from a friend. Or a stranger for that matter. They can take the form of a song, a poem, or in a line from a movie.

Answers to our prayers don’t have to be big dramatic gestures. Again, the answer may be subtle. Sometimes, the answer may come 6 months down the road, it may not happen immediately. But, I do believe that there is an answer, even when it seems there is no answer at all.

I think the key is to be aware, and in tune with all of the possible ways answers can come to us. Hey, its God folks. He can answer us with whatever method He deems most fit to convey His thoughts. It’s up to us to be receptive to that answer.

Most times, when we’ve just written off a “miraculous” event as a coincidence, it was really the answer we’d sought for so long, gift-wrapped from God. I’ve heard it said there are no real coincidences, just “God-incidences”.

I think there’s a lot of truth in that, actually.

-The Minister