On a Wing and a Prayer

Annabel and Tweetie

Last weekend, my youngest daughter, Annabel Rose, came to me with a request to buy her a pet bird.  The request didn’t go far because there was no way I was going to buy a bird.  Time is in very short supply in our household and I could only imagine how much work a messy bird would be.  After exhausting every angle,  she solicited the help of her older sister Lilliana to participate in the begging.

Our “No!” “Pleeeeeeze!” “No!” “Pleeeeeeze!” back and forth bantering finally came to an end.  A few minutes later with huge tears rolling down her face, Annabel brought to be a written list of why I should buy her a pet bird.  The heart-warming list outlined a dozen reasons including “I would never be lonely again” and “You won’t have to force Ronnie and Lilliana to play with me.”

About 45 minutes after receipt of the list, Lilliana came to me and told me that there was an exotic bird in our back yard. “Yea right!” I said and continued on.  She said, “No Mom seriously!”  To play along with their pretend game, I walked to the back yard where the girls pointed to the cutest bird I had ever seen.  It was perched on a rock only a few feet away staring at us intently.  With astonishment, I was looking in the eye of an Australian Cockatiel!.

After things settled down, the girls shared with me how they had collectively and independently prayed for the bird.

The proof of the power of prayer is overwhelming.  Study after study backs up the benefits of having faith; especially in achieving your heart’s desires, living happily, and prolonging your life.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8