Prayer: Form vs. Substance
There was a man who would start his day by kneeling beside his bed and spending an hour or so in prayer. But he had a cat that would disturb him and would nuzzle up against him. So to keep his cat from disturbing his prayer time, he would tie the cat to his bedpost.
His son tried to follow his dad’s example. But he was busy, so he only prayed for 20 minutes or so as he sat on the bed. He, too, had a cat, who he would tie to the bedpost to keep from disturbing him.
A grand-daughter came along, who wanted to maintain her family tradition. But things moved even faster in her day, so she didn’t even bother to spend time in prayer each morning. She would just get around and go off to meet her day. But as she was getting ready, she always made sure to tie her cat up to the bed post.
And so it is that in this way, we end up putting form before
substance and majoring on minors.
From a sermon by Dave McFadden, "His Temple", 6/14/2010