Be Careful What You Ask For

One of my favorite expressions is "Be careful what you pray for. You might get it." I have a higher power who is kind of kooky. He has a truly twisted sense of humor. He lights firecrackers when I'm sleeping. He loves the old switcheroo, the bait and switch, the Kansas City two step, the Cincinnati shuffle. He looks right and goes left. He has a powerful stutter step and a great head fake.

I talk very carefully to this guy. I'm wary about asking for things specifically because he interprets my requests differently than I do. He has a joyful sense of irony. The more specific I get, the more he messes with me. My prayers have started to morph into "Thy will be done" kind of prayers. Every time I ask for something it blows up in my face.

There is a great book by Ursula K. LeGuin called the "Lathe of Heaven." The main character discovers that whatever he dreams becomes reality. He hooks up with a benevolent psychologist who tries to direct his dreams through medication and power of suggestion. They are going to make the world a better place for everyone.

Here's how it goes. They ask for a solution to world overpopulation -- a terrible plague kills 90% of the earth's inhabitants. They ask for world peace -- aliens land on the moon, bringing mankind together to fight a common foe. They ask that the aliens leave the moon -- the aliens launch an attack on earth. And on and on. Their motives were good but their motives were their own. God had other plans.

The Company stripped off another big piece of my territory today. Not exactly what I envisioned when I prayed recently.

D'oh!