PRAYER, THE WHY OF IT ALL (3rd in Series)

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This is added to Sunday, Tuesday andThursday
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A man tried to weigh a prayer, but never did find out.

Never did come up with an exact figure, but it changed his attitude toward prayer.

This happened a long time ago, not long after the First World War had ended.

Late on an afternoon a woman, who looked too tired to be able to even put one foot in front of the other, entered a small grocery store and haltingly moved to the counter. Unmelted snow clung to her clothes and a certain sadness clung there too.

Max, the grocer, asked how he could help her. “May I have enough food to make a Christmas dinner for my children? My husband was killed in the war and I have no money…I have nothing to offer but a little prayer.”

The grocer scowled but grumpily replied, “Write it on a piece of paper” and turned to another customer. To his surprise she reached over the counter and handed him a piece of paper, “I did that during the night while I was watching over my sick baby.”

As he took the prayer from her he wondered, “What am I supposed to do now?”

An idea suddenly came to him. He placed the paper, without even reading it on an old fashioned scale and then picked up a loaf of bread nearby and said aloud, “We shall see how much this prayer is worth….how much it weighs.”

To his amazement the scale did not move. He kept on adding more food, anything he could lay his hands on, but nothing
happened.

By now a small crowd was gathering. He tried to be gruff but he was making a bad job of it. Looking at the now considerable pile of groceries he said ,”Well, that’s all the scale will hold. Here’s a bag. You’ll have to put it in yourself, I’m busy.” Red faced and totally frustrated he turned to wait on the next customer.

Later, when she and the other customers were gone he examined the scale more closely to find the solution. For many years, it had been a good pair of scales; served him well and always worked.

Why it had chosen this particular moment to break down he never could quite figure.
He never saw the woman again. And come to think of it, he had never seen her before either, yet for the rest of his life the incident changed who he was.

And, oh yes, what was the prayer written on that piece of paper? That piece of paper that he pulled out and read many times down through the years?

“Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread.”

Fools don’t pray; on pieces of paper, or out loud, or to themselves. They affirm neither the reality of God nor the possibility of communication.

They ignore God, or take his name in vain without regret and are more embarrassed by prayer than helped by it.

They scoff at prayers answered. Their creed is the cynics creed.

How did the scripture read? “You know when I
sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:2
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this new Series on PRAYER began Nov 21 st (and each Sundahy afterwards)

Each Tuesday there is a continuation of the Serialization of his Internationally distributed novel RUST ON MY SOUL.

To view an abundance of unusual stories by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
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