Active. Persistent. Prayer.

Have you seen the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?  It's a movie I could watch countless times over and over...and still pick out things I've missed before.  I was thinking about the bible verse for this week (Matthew 7:7):

"Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you."

It made me think of the scene when the blind seer says something about seeking a fortune, although it might not be the fortune you get.  I had to Google it, but here's the whole quote from the movie:  "You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains.  You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek.  But first...first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril.  Mm-hmm.  You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell.  You shall see a...a cow...on the roof of a cotton house, ha.  And, oh so many startlements.  I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward.  Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation."

Going back to Matthew 7:7, we're told to be active in our prayer.  To "ask, and it will be given to you".  How many times have you done that - only to get either nothing like what you wanted or even nothing at all?  It might even make you want to give up sometimes - why bother asking?!?  However, what about those times when you asked and, although what you received wasn't the fortune you hoped for, oh what a fortune you were given!!  

We're told not to just ask - but to seek!  When we receive God, His grace, His blessings - we are told to seek, and we will find.  To follow hard after God and His will for our lives...it may take a long time, and there are sure to be bumps in the road.  But He promises "we will find".  Yet don't stop there!  We are told to be persistent - to "knock and the door will be opened".  Active.  Persistent.  Prayer.  Connection and relationship with the One who gives and takes away.  Asking, seeking, knocking - continuously - as we follow our Lord and His will for our lives.  Though it may not be what we had planned or hoped for...follow Him, and it will be given, you will find, and the door will be opened.