I remember praying a lot in my life. When I prayed, I usually thanked God for who I am, what I have, and asked him for what I wanted. My prayers always had this pattern of gratitude for the past and the present, and a wish-list for the future.
Then I started driving in the city...
I lived most of the previous years driving in the suburbs of Maryland and Washington, and rarely driving around in the city. The amount of traffic, chaos and rush bothered me in the beginning. Putting up your blinker is not good enough anymore for other cars to let you pass or change lane. You have to be either rude and force your way, or nice and wait for someone's permission to let you go.
Then I remembered a technique that an old friend of mine taught me in Egypt, and started using it: instead of forcing my way and raise my hand with an aplogy, or wait for a permission and raise my hand with a thank you gesture, I actually started thanking others before they gave me the permission. I would roll down my window, smile at the other driver, and thank him or her for letting me get ahead of them. I was thanking them for what they haven't done yet, and this caused them to do it with pleasure. I haven't had a single person who didn't let me pass or who felt bad about doing so.
This made me reflect back on my prayers. I've always maintained a good sense of gratitude in my life, and always knew what I wanted, prayed for it, and waited. And when I got what I prayed for, I felt more grateful. If people gave me what I wanted because I thanked them for it in advance, wouldn't God do the same? Wouldn't God grant me something if I instead of asking for it, I showed gratitude for what I wanted, believing with a smile that it's been already granted, and that it's just a matter of time until I actually receive it?
So I thought of trying it. And I prayed this time without asking, I prayed with a smile and with gratitude for something that I wanted and I was struggling to have it for a while. When I ended my prayer, I didn't have a single doubt in my heart that it's been granted to me. That was the last time I thought about it, and never asked for it again.
I don't believe what happened the following day is a coincidence, because I was kind of expecting it: A friend of mine emailed me, and I was given what I prayed for. In fact, I was given a lot more of what I prayed for!
It boggled my mind that it was that easy. But then I realized that it wasn't easy. Being able to thank someone for what they didn't give us yet is counter-intuitive, or rather, counter-traditional. I'd like to believe that with my gratitude for the future I was able, for an instance of time, to transcend the illusion of time, and to know that what will happen is almost as good as what has already happened. The same way a line looks like a dot if you look at it from the third dimension, time appears as an instance if you look at it from, well, the fifth dimension :)
"Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them"
- Mark 11:24
