Prayer and hope

Hope and prayer seem to share some of the same DNA. Both can feel elusive at times. Both are difficult to define. Both can be serendipitous, washing over us and even overwhelming us at unexpected times. Emily Dickenson wrote that "Hope is a thing with feathers." The same can be said of prayer in my experience. Hope at times frustratingly and inexplicably flutters away, same can be said of prayer. What do we pray when violence erupts in Colorado or in our own back yard here in Wisconsin? How can we as human beings seem so advanced in our medical and educational and other understandings, yet human nature remains that anger and hatred comes out in the form of violence? Maybe some of the frustration with hope...and prayer...is that neither seem to obey our commands or bend to our control. And we are rather accustom to being able to buy, consume, and control just about everything else in our lives. But not hope. But not prayer. Neither can be picked up on y