FOUR LITTLE WORDS

FOUR LITTLE WORDS

 

"Prayer activates either our will or God's will. It took me a long time to learn this, and in the interim, I got myself into some pretty tough scrapes. But believe me, my world has changed since I discovered the power in those four little words. 'Thy Will be done."

 

This statement was made by Tom Vlahos, who went on to tell the following story.

 

One day Tom's four-year old son Victor began limping slightly. "I noticed it," Tom recalls, "before I went to work one day. "Oh" I said to myself, "he has only strained a muscle." But then my wife telephoned me at work. My boy was very ill."

 

Later Tom and his wife learned that little Victor had polio and was in a critical condition. Tom, of course, was heart-broken.

 

"I had prayed before whenever I needed help, "Tom explained. "But many times it seemed that answers to my prayers had a way of backfiring. I usually got what I prayed for, all right, but so often it turned out not to be the solution after all. I had become almost afraid to pray, but I knew I had to pray now. Prayer was my last resource to help the son I love so dearly."

 

Actually, Tom learned to pray when he was a young boy. "I always prayed for something," Tom said, "or I explained to God just what I wanted Him to do and how He was to do it. I had a clear picture of what I thought I wanted, and how I thought it should be accomplished. What I should have had was a clearer picture of the true nature of God.

 

" I began praying in the only manner I knew. Then one night after everyone else was asleep, I seemed led to go to the place in the house where I first noticed Victor limping, Kneeling there, I realized I had come to that point of helplessness known as despair. In the darkness I opened my lips to pray, but there came only the sound of cry.

 

"I continued to kneel, with the quietness all around me. Suddenly a great peace came to me; and more than this there was a surging feeling of the presence of infinite power and kindness. In this presence O felt very humble, and I suddenly knew how to pray. "Thy Will be done," I said."

 

These four little words are common enough, and they hardly betray any unusual power. But to Tom Vlahos they are essential power.

 

"When I spoke these words, that night," he recalled, "I was prompted by a sudden clarification of the true nature of our heavenly Father.

 

"Somehow I realized that it was not the Father's will for my son to be sick and crippled throughout his life. I realized that Jesus had a duel purpose in healing the sick. He wanted to ease suffering of course, but He also wanted to reveal the nature and will of God. He did His Father's work. Why else did Jesus heal, and also command His followers to heal, unless sickness is opposed to God's will?

 

"As these thoughts went through my mind, I understood that God had made my son perfect, and that through Him Victor could continue to express this perfection. I understood, also, that He had given me faith to believe this, so I said, ''Thy Will be done."

 

"The doctors were doubtful that Victor would ever be able to get out of bed again. 'Daddy' my son asked, 'is it true I'll have to stay in this old bed from now on?' drawing to me all the courage I had garnered from my new type of prayers, I said, 'Son, you'll be up and out of there before you know it.' However, Victor was not ready to attempt to walk again until nearly two years later.

 

Tom explained what took place on that occasion. "Doctors and nurses stood around quietly. I could tell they did not have much hope that Victor would walk again, although there were praying. Victor got up slowly from his bed and with help placed the crutches under his tiny arms. Gradually he began to take steps. Suddenly the crutches dropped into the floor. Victor wavered. I held my breath and was on the verge of crying, for I expressed to see my little boy tumble to the floor. But Victor walked without crutches!"

 

At that moment Tom remembered the many times during the preceding two years when, during the night, he had arisen to pray. "I had always remained at my prayer post," he said, "until I received the first conviction that all was well, and that I was praying to the greatest power of all. Then I would softly pray, "Thy Will be done," for I knew that His will is the best and the most constructive and kind thing. By praying, 'Thy Will be done,' I got out of His way and stopped interfering with His work.

 

There was a time when my prayers were long tales of woe to God. I never use a long-drawn-out one any more, and I laugh to think I ever did. Can anyone tell God about a situation? After all, He already knows more about it than the person who is praying. My prayers now are something like this: "Our Father, You see the situation in all aspects. To us, Your children, You are all. Thy Will be done."

 

Does Tom feel that by saying these words he is letting God do the work, thus completely freeing himself from any responsibility? Absolutely not! "It increases my responsibility," he claims, "for it is impossible truly to pray that God's \will be done and at the same time refuse to do it each day. It is the will of God, for example, that we love one another, that we forgive one another, that we seek ways to be of service. God's Will is harmony, and Jesus made it clear that God's Will is our duty.

 

"How can I pray to God with any measure of faith that His will be done in every specific case if I do not see to it that His will is upheld by me in general? I can't. I know, however, that if I do His divine will each day as I understand it, it will be the same as storing up treasures of good in the kingdom of heaven, the store house for all the raw materials of our earthly blessings.

 

"I feel that I can speak with some authority, for since this method of prayer helped to heal my son, I have used it to solve many other problems. It has always proved successful."

 

Our instructions from God are dual: "Cast your burden on the Lord" (Thy Will be done), and "if any man would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me" (Do the will of the Father). These go hand in hand. Anyone who follows these instructions will find that the answers to his prayers, though they be only four little words, "Thy Will be done," will far exceed his fondest hopes or dreams.

 

 

(Source: J. R. Goggins in Mira)