“Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry that God did not carry out the evil he threatened against Nineveh.” (Jon 4:1)    

What a great relationship Jonah and God have together!  Jonah tells God exactly what he thinks and feels.  God comes right back and tells Jonah: “Have you reason to be angry?”    

One thing we can learn from this Scripture is that prayer is being ourselves with God: being joyful; being angry; expressing doubt; expressing hatred or love; feeling sad, overwhelmed, grateful, needy, resentful, hungry for a sense of being loved.  We can be ourselves with God.  When we do this, God can be Himself with us.    

What can get in the way of being ourselves with God?  Let’s approach this from the situation of Jonah: he is angry.  Something that gets in the way of being ourselves with God are the rules we might have in our heads from our formative years, the shoulds and shouldn’ts of being with God: ‘You shouldn’t be angry with God!  We should be grateful.  Who do you think you are being angry with God?’  Another perspective is the fear that if I am angry with God (like with a parent), God will punish me for showing my temper.  We may carry within us the fear that God might shut Himself off from us.    

God created us.  As delighted as parents are with the birth of a child they have brought into the world, God is beyond delighted in and with each of us.  One of the best gifts we can give back to God is the gift of ourselves, of being ourselves with God.  In fact, the closer we come to God, the more we become ourselves, our truest selves.         

Begin slowly and gently, if you wish, but try this spiritual exercise: Tell God one thing about yourself that you might not typically mention in prayer. After some silence, ask God for Him to reveal how he views you.

What have you got to lose?
    
Fr. Andy Prachar