Thoughts on prayer

I plan to post my February reading list by the end of the week, but until then I wanted to share a passage from the most recent book I finished, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

This is a conversation about prayer between the 17-year-old protagonist, Cassandra, and the vicar in her town.

"...Prayer's a very tricky business."
"Goodness, is it?"
"Well, for inexperienced pray-ers it sometimes is. You see, they're apt to think of God as a slot-machine. If nothing comes out they say 'I knew dashed well it was empty' -- when the whole secret of prayer is knowing the machine's full."
"But how can one know?"
"By filling it oneself."
"With faith?"
"With faith..."

Most likely the theology in this passage isn't totally sound, but I still found the analogy quite perceptive.