Clean My Room?

"Dear God," my son, Elliot, prayed.  "Please help my room to stay clean."

Elliot and Vince's room has a strong tendency not to stay clean.  I can't really say that it is the rooms fault.  As far as I can tell it is actually the occupants of the room who have brought random books into it, stacked toys in different spots, and drop their clothes at various points over the floor rather than in the clothes basket in the closet. 

The fact that Elliot and Vince had to clean up their room recently probably had brought this top of mind to him.  He didn't want to have to clean it again, any time soon.

My grandmother often says, "God helps those who help themselves."  Now, this isn't found anywhere in the Bible and in fact I think the bigger factor in whether or not we gain divine assistance in our endeavors isn't whether or not we are "helping ourselves," but if we are serving God with our whole heart.

That said, prayer is not a substitute for hard work.  "God, help someone to cook supper for my husband and kids tonight," or "God, please help the weeds to stop growing in my garden and someone to mow my lawn for me," are the sorts of prayers that God is unlikely to answer in the affirmative. 

"Please, God, help me ace my test tomorrow," is more likely to be answered positively, if the person praying it has studied a lot.

If I am honest, there have been times when I walked in my son's shoes.  There have been moments when I tried to use prayer to cover my own personal laziness and what I received was a nudge to do more, rather than a quick fix of my problem.

For, in my experience, God is far more likely to give strength and perseverance to two young men tasked with the job of cleaning a room that they "dirtified," than He is to magically clean it for them.