when a person prays

I attended a screening of the upcoming film EVAN ALMIGHTY the other night. Though I'm not a religious person, I am always curious about the idea of faith and believing. I'm sad to report that the very core of the film, the most potent nugget of truth, was summed up after about an hour in the form a few rhetorical questions gracefully spoken by Morgan Freeman playing God disguised as a waiter for the scene. Ready, kids?

"When a person prays for patience, does God give him patience or does He give him an opportunity to be patient?"

There were a couple of other examples but you get the gist and man, I've been mulling this shit over for DAYS. It begs the question of is ignorance really bliss? Let's say I was fairly thinking-declined and I went to watch EVAN ALMIGHTY and I laughed at the funny bits with Steve Carell wearing a robe like Noah and the monkey handing him a glass of juice as he works on the arc. Let's say I heard the question mentioned above and I thought nothing of it. This post wouldn't exist. This entire blog wouldn't exist. But it does. And I'm wondering if the question isn't so much what God gives or doesn't give but rather the person who is praying. If the person who is praying for patience realizes that he wants to be patient, shouldn't he go out and be patient? Waiting in line at the airport or for your appointment at the doctor's office doesn't count. I'm talking about watching your child learn, studying harder and getting better grades, cultivating friendships. Patience is but one virtue.

I don't know much about religion but I have a feeling that it's not only about the passion one has for their beliefs, it's the actions they take beyond the walls of church. If you have enough sense to pray for something you lack, therein lies your prayer answered. Because it doesn't hurt to ask. It hurts when that's all you do.