And finally... PRAYER IS A COMMUNION When we pray, we spend time with God, and it's through this continual and intimate time spent in his presence, that we come to personally know him. Simple common sense tells us that to really know someone, we have to spend time with them and our relationship to God is no different.

We also spend time with those we love. And as with any person in our lives, we cannot truly claim to love Jesus and desire to be like him without desiring also to be with him. This special time spent with our Lord is prayer, and through its grace we fulfill his command to us to be one with him as he is one with Father. And since this is ultimate goal of our Christian walk, prayer then, is absolutely essential to our spiritual growth and journey.

Who needs prayer? WE ALL DO! It's God special gift, allowing us sinful and cosmically insignificant creatures to communicate personally with all-powerful Creator as a child converses with a loving parent. It's part of our covenant with Him, a personal communion allowing us to be with Him and spend time in His presence until our death when, through His saving Grace we hope to be truly united with Him in heaven for all eternity.

So pray often and in everything you do, and remember, "with God, all things are possible." Without him, nothing is.

I thought that money was a tool sometimes used for testing us. Do we remain spiritual while humbled and poor or do we become bitter and turn our back on God? Do we remain spiritual while spoiled and rich or do we become self righteous and turn our back on God? And what about way we treat each other? Does amount of money we have dictate how much love we are to receive from each other? "Congratulations on that job promotion you worked so hard for, buddy! But hey, you're too rich now, so me and God aren't going to hang out with you anymore."

What a silly concept that money would have anything to do with one's spiritual self-worth. I'm sorry for those children who have been raised to believe that amount of money they do or do not have dictates whether or not God will like them. Personally, I've raised my kids on idea that you behave yourself as best you can, and I do mean 'best.' Heed your spiritual calling. Love one another. Everything else will fall into place as it's meant to be. Oh, and be thankful for what you have. God don't like people with bad manners.

Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge