What if . . .

. . . the world were set up so that you couldn't reach out to God in prayer or petitions or gratitude whenever you wished? Or at all? What if there were no words you could utter nor any silent pleas of the heart that could reach Him?

What if you had to wait for Him to reach you?

What if other people's thoughts could reach God, everyone's thoughts in fact except for yours?

What if He wanted to hear your exultations and dreams and hopes and joys, as well as your sorrows and worries and confusion, what if you undoubtedly Knew that He did but you had somehow cosmically messed up or you were born the wrong sort of creature? How would you feel then? (The correct answer is that you should feel grateful for the gift of God, because His wisdom and ways and love are supernal, even if you are constrained. But maybe your heart would break.)

And, it makes us grateful, doesn't it, that we belong to a different system; we are grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and for the ability it affords us of reaching up in prayer anytime and always. If we can just remember to reach. If we can just persuade ourselves to pray.