During a dramatic scene in a movie I was watching recently, I found myself praying for a character who was in danger. Afterward I had to laugh because I recalled a talk given years ago by a Christian Scientist who made a joke something like, “Have you ever found yourself praying for a character in a movie? I have. But my prayer never changed what happened to the character.”
I mentioned this to a friend who is a Christian Science practitioner, thinking we’d share a chuckle. Her response was quick: “Oh, don’t ever think that prayer is for nothing! It goes forth into world thought and is picked up by a receptive heart somewhere.” Then, pausing for emphasis, she added, “No prayer is ever wasted!”
That gave me a lot to think about and helped me understand that it’s never just an individual character’s predicament we’re praying about. We’re bringing the spiritual truths of God and man to bear on human issues, and that has to have a healing effect on world thought.
