Bonus Post: A Pitiful Repayment

Along the same lines as my official blog post of the day, I'm reminded that prayer is not just for telling God things. We also use prayer to ask God for blessings, including answers to questions, and now I wonder if telling God a little bit about our lives is part of how we repay God for telling us a little bit about His plan and the universe. At first, I thought that, of course, tell God a few things about ourselves is a poor way to repay Him for the light and knowledge He shares with us, let alone the miracles He does for us and the many other blessings He brings into our lives, but it may be that He loves us so much that He's happy with even the smallest amount of repayment.

I'm reminded of a scene in one of my favorite movies, which may even be my favorite movie. In a conversation at the beginning of the film, a character talks of an arrangement she and her son have with her mother, her son's grandmother: Grandma helps them pay their bills, asking only for pictures of the two of them in return.

In my opinion, this generosity reflects the generosity of God. In effect, they're each saying "In return for helping you overcome the biggest challenges in your life, I just want to be a part of your life and for you to be a part of mine."

It's not possible for us to fully repay God. There's a scripture in Mosiah that says something to that effect. But God's not asking for a full repayment. All He really wants in return for everything He does for us is for us to love Him and His children. Sometimes, that means visiting the sick and afflicted, sometimes that means telling God how our day went. Regardless of what form our expressions of love take, it's a small price to pay for our blessings, and even when it takes a measurable amount of sacrifice to show our love for God and others, God repays us in spades. That's also in Mosiah.

It's strange that, in some ways, God wants very little from us, and in other ways, He wants everything we can give Him. In the end, all He really wants from us is our hearts. Whether you see that as a huge sacrifice or a tiny one is up to you, but either way, it's a pitiful repayment for what God offers us in return.