The Sincerity in the "Prayer" by S.P. Bailey

I laughed out loud while reading this poem and then I was touched.  In the poem “Prayer” by S.P. Bailey tells the story of a boy’s picture day as a first grader. The poet paints scene for the readers and we cannot help but relate to the situation. The poet has a sincerity of tone and an ability to describe such an important life event.

It was picture day. Me: a first grader. I was all ready.

Hair combed. Shirt tucked in tight. Tie clipped on.

Mom’s orders were clear:

            No getting dirty or messing up my hair

            No riding my bike. No playing in the sandpile.

            No playing outside at all.

These six lines pull to mind a young boy that often gets dirty while playing. He is a little rambunctious but he has a desire to please his mother. Each reader can remember picture day and how they tried to make sure they were clean until the click of the camera. The poet repeats the orders from mom with a very parallel format. Just as if a mother would try to get her son to understand, she instructs ““No” getting dirty” with an emphasis on the “No.”

Later on in the poem the little boy decides to follow the spirit of the law and but still have fun. Only then he is in his playhouse and gets caught in a rainstorm. He is so afraid of disappointing his mother. He prays with the sincerity of a little boy.  The rain stops. He is sure that he saw the finger of the Lord. God stopped the rain for him.

The part of the poem that really stood out to me was the boy’s sincerity that God listened to him and answered his prayers. The poet compared this kind of faith with that of an adult that would think that it was a “coincidence” that the rain stopped. I like to stop and acknowledge gifts from God. Sometimes it is seeing a squirrel, sometimes it is when things work out with my rent and sometimes it is when I have prayed for my sister and she starts to do better. I hope that I always remember where all gifts come from and never think "oh it was a coincidence." 

Do Not Procrastinate

1  In my lap: my scriptures, opened to Alma chapter 34. Next to me: my missionary companion, Elder Gregg. Across from me: the 70 year-old non-member husband of an active LDS church member, Jim. Listening, to the side, is Jim's wife, and another church member who accompanied us. My companion soldiers on, asking Jim some probing questions about baptism. We had previously been discussing baptism and how it's necessary for salvation. He disagreed, feeling that he had already been doing pretty well in life saw no need to do change anything about it now. This prompted Alma 34.

" I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."

This made logical sense. He doesn't think he needs to repent and change, and here's a scripture saying just the opposite. If I'm being prompted by the Spirit, and I share it with the Spirit, this just might be what he needs. So why aren't I sharing it? I see Jim looking back at us. 70 years of experience to my 21. 70 years of hard work, heartache, joy, accomplishment--he had fathered and grandfathered a wonderful family, whose pictures were displayed all around us. 70 years of making good decisions and seeing the fruits of them. Who am I to tell him he must change? Something's holding me back. Jim was a stubborn man. In our last visit his wife told him his baptism was nothing but a warm bath. He didn't take that too well. I don't imagine he'll respond any better to being told he's about to die and should probably consider making some changes. Maybe the Spirit's telling me now that I shouldn't share that scripture?

My companion notices my scriptures open and gives me a look, as if to say "you have something to share?"

I don't.

I close my scriptures.

I'll never know what would've happened had I shared it. Maybe nothing. Maybe he would've just brushed it off. Maybe he would've felt it was true. I don't know. But something about it didn't feel right that time, and that's all I can conclude it with.

2  The Savior said it best:

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Up until that moment I hadn't considered what this scripture should mean for me. Up until that point I could talk your ear off when it came to film or sports. I was passionate about those things. I had just talked at length to a nice lady about both of those things, based on her similar passion for them.

But faith? Repentance? I couldn't give nearly as much lip service to them as anything else I had said that day. For so long I had let the church become less than a passion. I did not treasure it the same way I did sports and film. I should be able to speak volumes about gospel topics and what they've meant to me. But I couldn't, and he knew that. That's why he shared that scripture.

Since then I've tried all I can to treasure the gospel and put my heart into it--to make it a passion. I've been rewarded immensely, seeing the blessings of my increased devotion on a daily basis. He shared the scripture that I needed to hear, but the Savior said it best.

3  Understandably nervous and perhaps a little anxious, I got on my knees and gave my first personal prayer in nearly 6 years. I was done trying to get by with what I had reasoned in my head. I was done telling people I was over the church without having actually tried to find out if it was true. I had denied God's existence in my head over and over yet I had never tried to actually prove it. So there I knelt, immature in my experience with prayer, throwing up a white flag and hoping for answer.

I can best describe what I felt by saying that there was nowhere else on Earth I would rather be than right there at the foot of my bed. I knew, almost without prompt, that I should've done that a long time ago. I had spent so much effort pushing Him out but I had never let Him in. I still wasn't sure if the LDS church was true--that would come much later. But I at least knew it was good. Good to me, good to my family, good to millions of others. There was something there in the LDS church that couldn't be ignored. Starting from that moment, I needed to find it.

Doubt Not, Fear Not

Wrestling the Future

I lie awake in my bed wrestling within my own thoughts about the future direction I must go. My current responsibility is to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those whom I have been called to serve. But what about that day when I wake up and am forbidden to put the tag on again? I need a plan, I must be prepared. So there I lay, pondering anxiously about which runway that will give my life flight.

Do I return to the school that had given me so much confidence in myself. Providing personal opportunities that never would have been imagined at another institution. Or do I take into consideration that with the age change of missionaries perhaps the other school has less attendance allowing a greater opportunity to get accepted. What about my friends at my first school who I have known since young ages. I need them still don’t I? Their support is more then they will even know. To transfer schools is more than just an educational adjustment. Its life changing in every sense.

The struggle is real, reasons to stay are valid, the reasons to transfer are worthy. My heart is torn between the future opportunities at the new school are there, the safe and known opportunities at the first school are there and will be there should I choose to return. As I fought back and forth that particular night, the answer came soft and quickly. I was to at the very least apply to the new school and the feeling was clear that I would be accepted. 

I was honestly appalled. I didn’t really want that answer. For the last 16 months of my life I had been teaching exhorting and inviting people to follow the promptings of the spirit. Now it was time to live what I was teaching. Act upon the impression and walk with faith. The inner struggle almost instantly ceased to be a worthy struggle if I would only trust the spirit. It still requires faith, but its easier to set aside the “what ifs” and just move forward with faith. 

Doubt Not, Fear Not

High School can try a young wavering heart. Its a time when youth are either grasped tightly to the teaching of the Gospel or holding on loosely to the coat tails of a peer. They may come to seminary just so mom and dad will hand them the keys, they will come so that they can enjoy their friday night. Occasionally the lesson may prick their heart, but they will fight it and sit there forcing themselves to fight the spirit and what its teaching them. 

It was a privilege to be on the council that would be responsible to find a scripture that would be used as our year theme. Something that would help students feel the love of their Father in heaven and his confidence in them. Prayerfully we as a council came to the conclusion of Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not fear not.” 

It was our hope that this scripture could help those that were only there come to a greater knowledge of God. That it would help those students that already were engaged find faith and hope in the things they still doubted. This verse did just that. Little did we know the role it would play for those in the council. One lost his brother and the other her mother during our senior year. They were able to lead by living this verse and clinging to its doctrine. Other students admired that and together as seminary students we grew in our faith and trust of the Savior that year.

Wild Study

The clock almost seems to be screaming 8:00am. Its december and the heater is failing to do its job. My cold clammy hands are hurrying to handle the neck tie. My feet frantically search for my slippers and as i race down the stairs my hands steal the blanket from the bed. Once at my desk i fall to my knees. My mind is at home, back in high school, does that girl still care about me? Multiple off topic things dance across my minds stage. I try to gather my thoughts to my purpose in being on my knees. That is to find through all the heavy wave lengths going on my Heavenly Father. Asking him for help and guidance as I am about to embark yet again on  trek. 

Its a trek with an unkept trail, without a finish line, it could have many beautiful land marks to stop and enjoy or it could be a constant steady course. I conclude our conversation and take my seat at the desk. As I begin to open my Book of Mormon I feel the journey beginning. I don’t know where I will be taken. I read with spiritual eyes and a desire to learn and grow. 

This is my wilderness every day for 1 hour. Its me and God, our time to have an interview, for me to be taught by the master. Often times I am lost in the wilderness of scripture and pondering. I have found my sacred grove each time I kneel at that desk, that I open my scriptures and let God come to me and endow me with the power and knowledge I desperately need that day. 

The Prayer of Alma

The greatest and most pivotal moments in the history of our religion have occurred through really small and simple words, offered in the most humble way. 

Its one single act that has effected us so much today. 

A prayer. It was the prayer of Jesus Christ that he offered in the Garden of Gethsemane, that allowed Him to carry out the Atonement. It was the prayer of a humble boy, who wanted to know the truth, that brought about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

All because of a prayer. 

Some of the most beautiful poetry recorded in the Book of Mormon is in Alma's prayer concerning the Zoramites in Alma 31. At this time, Alma has been sent on a mission to teach the Zoramite people--who were at one time a righteous people, but had fallen wicked because of their pride. When he arrives, he finds them all praying the same prayer, while atop of a Rameumptom. 

Alma explains his grieved heart for what he saw and heard. And because of his emotions, it changes what he will say and how he says it. This is an example of pathos, in that he has an emotional appeal to the audience. He will pray in great earnest and all will hear him. 

"And he lifted up his voice to heaven and cried, saying, 'O, how long, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that thy servants shall dwell here below in the flesh, to behold such gross wickedness among the children of men?"

We can see the example of kairos in his language with these examples: lifted up, cried, suffer, gross wickedness." This is kairos because of the situation that took place prior to his cry to God for help. 

In Alma's prayer, it a beautiful description of him pleading but yet thanking God for Jesus Christ, and the way it is possible to repent. I believe this shows the perfect way to express and teach in spoken word. The phrase "O Lord," is repeated 14 times in just under eight verses. This stylistic use of language is to show emphasis and focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and His role. But it is also exact contrast of the prayers offered by the Zoramites--which is why we can find this prayer so beautiful and appealing to the audience using pathos. 

Another example of how it exemplifies pathos is that Alma was most likely kneeling down to prayer, with his head bent, hands folded, and a focused attitude. We see the direct contrast of his prayer to the Zoramites, who where high on their "holy stand," with arms stretched out, and a memorized and insincere prayer. 

This prayer offered is what helped the poor Zoramites accept the gospel. It was all because of a prayer...

Praying in the Mountains

In Ether Chapter 12 starting in verse 18 the brother of Jared goes into the mountain to pray to the Lord. The first question that came to mind was if the brother of Jared actually spoke his entire prayer our loud. Sure the prayer is in quotes here, but it does seem that he did give the entire prayer vocally.

He uses the phrase “O Lord” to address his audience God in his prayer. This specific word choice is used repeatedly to show his reverence and respect for whom he is addressing. He also begins by asking several questions. This is important because one of the main purposes of praying is to receive answers. It’s impossible to receive answers to questions if you don’t ask them. While this may seem obvious, it is something that can get overlooked in prayer by lots of gratitude. The brother of Jared was very direct, and made his purpose very clear to the Lord. This shows that he is confident and that he has great faith in receiving answers to his prayers.

This prayer is also clearly a conversation, with the Lord not only giving answers, but asking the brother of Jared questions as well. So while the prayer is formal and respectful, it is still relaxed enough so that the brother of Jared remains part of the conversation and isn’t overshadowed by the Lord. This is a great example to us as individuals in our own prayers. Not only is it important for us to pray, but we should talk with the Lord. We need to be open like the brother of Jared to receive the answers that come, but we also need to think for ourselves and act based on what we get out of our prayers.

Interactive Narrating

We don’t see a lot of spoken word in its truest sense. Only in a few instances do we have literal communicated dialogue. 

Pg 554 We have Ammaron’s commission to Mormon as a young boy.

“I percieve that thou art a sober child, and art quick to observe, therefore, when ye are about twenty and four years old I would that ye should remember the things that ye have observed concerning this people and when ye are of that age go to the land Antum, unto a hill which shall be called Shim; and there have I deposited unto he Lord a ll the sacred engravings concerning this people. And behold, ye shall take the Plates of nephi unto yourself, and the remainder shall ye leave in the place where they are and ye shall engrave on the Plates of Nephi all the things that ye have observed concerning this people.”

Detailed Dialogue from Ammaron provides us with specific knowledge of what Mormons quest and purpose is to be. From here on though we don’t get great interaction from the characters to their peers. 

Other Dialogue mainly consists of words from God himself. As the people have become wicked God gives this instruction “Cry unto this people. Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared.”

Aside from these examples it is hard to draw a true sermon from Mormon. He spends much of his time as a very involved and detailed narrator as to the things that have happened. In a sense he is speaking to the future generations about avoiding the same downfall as his people. But again it isn’t true spoken word. Even his lamentation at the end gives the perception of being towards specific people but its recorded in more of a historical account rather then an actual speech. 

In Earnest Prayer

Spoken Word in Alma 15:3-Alma 22:26

Dialogue between Alma and Zeezrom pg. 295
Prayer given by Alma pg. 295
Alma speaking to the Nephites pg. 297
The Lord speaks to the Sons of Mosiah pg. 300
Ammon speaks to King Lamoni pg. 301
Dialogue between Ammon and the King's servants pg. 301-302
Dialogue between the King and his servants pg. 303-304
Dialogue between Ammon, the King, and his servants, Ammon bearing testimony pg. 304-305
Dialogue between Ammon and the Queen pg. 306-307
Abish Praying pg. 309
Dialogue between Ammon, King Lamoni, and Lamoni's Father pg. 310-311
Dialogue between Aaron and an Amalekite pg. 313
Dialogue between Aaron and King Lamoni's Father pg. 315-316
King Lamoni's Father prays pg. 316
Aaron speaks to the queen pg. 317

Alma 22:18
"Oh God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."

The tone is really what affects the power of this prayer. The tone of King Lamoni's Father's prayer is an earnest tone full of dedication; it is a tone that conveys he truly wants to know if there is a God. Through his plea to God he shows that he truly wants to believe. His commitment to give away all his sins is proof that he is seriously seeking the truth. He also mentions the last day and how he wants to find the way to be saved. This shows his devotion to following whatever God will manifest to him until his last days.