Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, October 18, 2007


Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.

- Thomas Alva Edison, inventor, who died on this
day, 1931, age 84


Oh good. This gives me the chance to quote yet again the wonderful sign at the end of the counter at Nonnie’s Café in Orleans on the Cape. I used to go there early for breakfast while all my lazy friends slept. Great pattie (is this spelled correctly?) sausage, sourdough toast, yokes perfectly runny, and the best - the best - crispy homefries!!

The sign said, “All things cometh to those who waiteth – as long as those who waiteth work like Hell while they waiteth”. I suspect it was put there by those 50-something ladies who waitheth-ed on the tables - and certainly did work like Hell on those packed summer mornings. (There was often a line waiting for the 6am opening, and still one when I left.)

Prayer answers itself. That’s the way prayer works. Prayer is, in a sense, the Edison-esque hustling you do while you are waiting for your heart or your spirit or your brain (maybe the body too) to “get” the answer. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name will be given to you”. This was not a magic formula. It means the hard work of bringing our will and heart and mind into line with God’s. And that can take some hustling! It’s hard work, shaping oneself into the “image of God”. Very hard work - we all know the tremendous resistance that the Ego and the pride can put up.

Trying to conjure up an “answer to prayer” is useless. The “answer” already exists - since the God we know has only the best answers ready for what we need. Prayer is Hustle. It’s “Working Like Hell” to clear away the often huge clutter of “spiritual” debris that has come crashing down around us by our unloving behavior and self-delusions. When we clear the dust and clutter, the Answer awaits.

All the joy and peace we want awaits. Hustle!

Brian+