I''m sure we've all heard the old story of the saint who went to heaven and got to see the packing and shipping department. He saw boxes of blessings and parcels of prayer answers all packed up and ready to go. As he looked closer, he noticed a number of items with his name on them.

"I don''t understand," he said, "I never remember receiving any of those great gifts!"  A tear formed in the eye of a nearby angel. "Why? Please tell me why?" the man persisted.

Sadly, the angel replied, "They were prepared for you from the beginning of time and were ready to shipped out at a prayer's notice but you never asked for them."

Much is made of unanswered prayer. The "whys" and inconsistencies of it all are frequently on our minds. But, maybe the greatest tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.