Comment

Comment by Loren Miller on June 28, 2010 at 7:58am

Asking friends for prayers sounds like a form of networking to me. If she wants to be practical about it (oh, heaven forefend!), tell her to join LinkedIn, build a profile, start building a network of former work associates and friends and see if THAT finds her some prospects!

Sort of a 21st century equivalent of "two hands working do more than 1000 hands clasped in prayer!"

Comment by Michael J. Maloney on June 28, 2010 at 7:45am

Be honest with your friend and tell her you support her quest for employment. There is no need to reference gawd or any other magical solution. That said buckle down and try removing other magic words such as wish, luck, hope and faith from your messaging and spoken word. Wishing and hoping are as invalid as gawd. These are words suggest an investment in magical thinking without action will provide answers - in this case a job. I know it is difficult. Our language and culture is polluted with religious magic words. It's almost impossible to eradicate all the cradle-to-grave indoctrination from our vocabularies. Practice self-censorship.

Comment by Whalehugger on January 9, 2009 at 9:38pm

Adam: She is proactively doing the search and has been working several months to get a job. She's been papering around her area of Atlanta, filling out applications and so on. She just asks for prayers from her friends and I can't do that. Also I can't lie and say that I'm praying for her. Best I can do is wish her the best and be there as a sounding board if she needs it.

We did do one other thing - we sent her some money to help tide her over. She didn't ask, we just offered. It wasn't a hand out, just something to take care of a car payment for a month while she kept food on the table for her kids. Things are a bit more stable now and hopefully she can hang in there until she can get that FT job she needs. I feel that she's the type of friend that would do the same thing if the roles were reversed. It felt good that we were able to do more than just say "I'll pray for you".

Comment by Adam Johnson on January 9, 2009 at 9:21pm

Its not that you should tell her you won't pray for her. Just explain to her that waiting for prayers to be answered is not proactive. She needs to vigorously search herself for a job. Prayer allieviates responsibility.

Comment by Diego on January 9, 2009 at 7:39pm

What you can do is write in response telling your friend that you hope she finds a new job that suit her necessities, that you can help by asking people you know about jobs, by looking if there is some business hiring, helping her building a resume, etc. But don't mention god, in either good or bad way. As she reads your letter she will appreciate what you offer to do for her, but would be very unwise to forsake that if she doesn't see any mention of god. But that'll be up to her.

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on January 9, 2009 at 6:28pm

People who believe in prayer are incapable of dealing with reality, and understanding cause and effect. They also those types that believe the most outrageous things. They don't think they had a car accident because of bad driving or a random event, they think they had it cuz god is punishing them for telling a little white lie. They want to blame it on the most improbable reason rather than see it as a chance event. It's all nonsense.