followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 70]

One of our prophets, presumably the one just previous to the current, is said to have remarked that instead of treating prayers as a phone call, with a distinct opening and closing, and the business concluded, he opens his prayer to the Lord in the morning and closes it at night, and it continues throughout the day.

So it's less like a phone call and more like a text conversation, that just rolls through the day and doesn't require an end or beginning. Can even span multiple days (I don't really know how this works, I'm not a big texter).

Then the thought came to my Relief Society president, who is the source of this story, that it's like a text conversation but God mostly responds in emojis and you have to try to figure out what that means.

For an example of only communicating by emojis, I turn to a fictional character determined to be an uninvolved participant in what happens around him, so he only uses emojis in his tweets to illustrate that he never speaks on camera (because he's behind the camera). So here's Nathan from Classic Alice*:

I know what this says, because I saw the episode. But I imagine for most of you it's pretty cryptic.

I love the imagery of trying to figure out what's meant by the revelation you receive. It's even more poignant for me because guess what emojis look like on my phone:

That's me, communicating with my eyes my utter pleasure at getting empty squares via text when I'm supposed to be getting something else.

So helpful! And so completely apt to how I feel most of the time. Guess I should reread some old posts of mine about prayer and see what I can learn from myself.

I still love the idea of keeping a conversation with God in your heart all the day long. Also I'm pretty sure that's what's recommended by scripture...

Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support: yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. (Alma 37:36)

Sounds like a good plan to me.


*By the way, Classic Alice is in an extended period of fundraising for their next season, so I definitely recommend checking it out. If you like it, donate a couple dollars to the cause. You'll not only get a new season of Classic Alice (which is great), you'll also get other perks that you can read about on their funding page.