Why I Pray For Ugly Betty

It's a good day. And not just because my beautiful friend has delivered a beautiful baby boy or because the weather couldn't be more perfect if it tried or because I've been listening to The Beatles for the past sweet forever and I'm like moved. Like moved in my soul. It's just because of the Lord. Pretty simply, that's it. And I'm not gonna start talking about how I saw the face of Jesus in a wildflower on my way to work or how the clouds seemed to form a cross as they drifted over my shimmering and ethereally glowing head as I did a Bible study in the woods yesterday. (totally didn't do a Bible study in the woods yesterday, unless it counts that I did one in my bed last night and I haven't shaved my legs in 2 days. gasp!).

It pretty much all has to do with how much I love being taught. Let me rephrase that. I love knowing things. Being taught that which we should know is often very painful and annoying. Lessons in the Lord are no different than numerous brutal hours of being taught the difference between sine cosine and tangent. Oh sweet heavens, I just threw up in my mouth a little.

But it seems like once you have a knowledge of something, you're pretty grateful it's there. Especially when it's useful. For instance, I love the fact that I can quote passages or ideas from certain books that I love or that I can provide random and fascinating information on virtually any current popular television series. (Karen Filippeli, from The Office, is TOTALLY the daughter of Peggy Lipton and Quincy Jones)

It's pretty common to hear that knowledge is power. So, wouldn't it stand to reason that the more we know about the Lord the more powerful we become? Of course.

I've been growing in my knowledge of the Lord, specifically my faith. Not faith like religion. Faith as in faith. The fruit of the spirit. The means by which we are saved.

I'm surprised at how much I didn't know about the intricate nature of faith. I always assumed faith was just a character quality that someone either possessed or didn't possess. To actually learn that faith is an action is something I feel I should have always known.

This past week, specifically, I have been more conscious of the ways that I allow faith to affect my life. My prayer life has been more intimate because I have opened myself up to freely praying for whatever is on my heart (which, last night, was the entire cast of Ugly Betty for some freakishly odd reason...I love that stupid show)

A foundation is laid through prayer. A foundation that opens us up to God's character so that His qualities can gently creep into our lives and words and actions. When we and others see evidence of this, THAT is what increases our faith. So much so that we can't abide the idea of it slipping away, which hopefully leads us to cling to the fragility of faith and cradle it and nurture it so that we never know anything but how good it feels to be in love with the Lord.