In the old days he could help this loneliness by the saying of prayers and often coming home from hunting he would repeat a great number of the same prayer and it made him feel better. But he had not prayed once since the movement. He missed the prayers but he thought it would be unfair and hypocritical to say them and he did not wish to ask any favors or for any different treatment than all the men were receiving.

No, he thought, I am lonely. But so are all the soldiers and the wives of all the soldiers and all those who have lost families or parents.

From “From Whom the Bells Toll” by Ernest Hemingway

Last evening, I was flying back from Florida. Since Hemingway is my favorite author, I was reading this novel to find a quote that would best fit the one-hundredth post on my blog.  As I was reading this passage, the plane hit an area of turbulence and plummeted a few hundred feet. Amid the screams of my fellow passengers and the thuds of the luggage falling from the racks, I said some unprintable word and then prayed. After my scare was over, I thought how we all conveniently seek God’s help when we find ourselves in trouble. Perhaps, we should not do so; perhaps, like Hemingway’s main character, we should be honest with ourselves and decide whether we will let Him have a daily presence in everything we do in our lives or leave Him alone.