In packing up for my big move, I found many interesting things I squirreled away with the notation that they’d be worth writing about someday. Well, now is “someday,” so today I send you this, to keep, remember and use with me.
Famed author “Anonymous” wrote this prayer. In this day of our country’s and our own Jewish agonies, pandemic, racial tension, rising antisemitism, and no cooperation between our political parties on issues affecting everyone — it’s a fine time to say it ourselves. Its title: “A Different Kind of Prayer”:
Heavenly Father, help us remember that the jerk who just cut us off in traffic may be a single mother after a nine-hour shift, rushing homeward to make dinner, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children.
Help us remember that the pierced, tattooed young man who can’t make correct change is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing fears of final exams and not getting student loans renewed for next semester.
Remind us, Lord, that the scary-looking bum begging for money in the same spot every day is a slave to addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.
Help us to remember that the old couple walking so annoyingly slowly through the supermarket aisles, blocking our shopping progress, is savoring this moment, knowing that the biopsy report she just got back means this will be the last year they can go shopping together.
Heavenly Father, remind us each day that of all the gifts you give us, the greatest is love, and it is not enough to share that love only with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not just to those close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, and bless us with empathy and patience as well as love. AMEN!
Well — maybe before praying, the short paragraphs below make a good “introduction” to prayer. First: positive things to think about from the late great correspondent Charles Kuralt while he was “on the road”:
“It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn’t in flames — that there are people in this country besides politicians and criminals, and they do some really good things. And so maybe the world isn’t such a bad place, after all.”
And the thoughtful musing of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who used it in his work and his life: “If you ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”
So now, again: Heavenly Father, remind us each day that of all the gifts you give us, the greatest is love, and it is not enough to share that love only with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not just to those close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, and bless us with empathy and patience as well as love. AMEN!