A Prayer for the Ambivalent Lord, I come to you again in prayer, asking You to bestow a blessing upon those who, in the pursuit of Your wisdom consider deeply the consequences of their actions before they take them, who imagine the possible outcomes of a variety of choices for each decision, who engage in what we might generally consider the virtue of reflection before reacting to external stimuli. In Your all-encompassing knowledge, You are already well aware of those who, perceiving the extent of their choices, find none of them acceptable and who consequently refuse to act at all. They are paralyzed, not by indecision, but rather by a rejection of all options. Lord, for those who suffer from the malady of ambivalence to the point of abnegation, I ask that you strip them of all fore-thought. Let them act without knowledge of the repercussions of their choices. Let them remain ill-informed. Let them not learn from their mistakes. Let them live as children live, whose short-sightedness is tolerated out of discretion if not kindness. Let them, above all else, suffer the consequences of their actions. Lord, eradicate the ambivalence of Your people, for we have lived too long under its manifold shadows and we yearn only to be faced by a simple clear-cut choice, which once made, leads directly to a preternaturally serene and preferably eternal paradise. |
A Prayer for the Ambivalent David Keffer Knoxville, TN October 24, 2014 |