On a January morning!

Good morning, my friends,
    The sun greeted us this morning as we climbed forth from a warm bed, dressed, started coffee, and went walking with Ollie to get the morning papers (he did much more than that – ran about two miles, awakened two of his ‘friends’ up at the end of the driveway and took care of natural things)! 
     Breakfast was delicious – Denise usually fixes our breakfast on the weekends and I enjoy what she makes.
     We turned the televisions off as the content of what was shown on way too many channels was inane and not worth watching at all (Are you old enough to remember when the tv channels didn’t appear until about 8:00 or even noon and went off the air to the playing of the National Anthem at the end of the evening news?  Maybe we should return to that process)
     And, I sat down to find something to stimulate my thinking and perhaps yours and found this piece in my archives entitled ‘A Different Kind of Prayer’.  Now, my own personal taste is to pray in private, but this seems to request a larger audience – I’ll bet you’ll see something in here to lift your spirits and maybe to direct some of your actions today:

    Help me remember that the jerk who cut me off in traffic last night is a single parent who worked nine hours that day and was rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry, and spend a few precious moments with his/her children.
    Help me remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can’t make change correctly is a worried nineteen year old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting enough money for tuition next semester.
    Remind me that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day, is a slave to addictions ordinary people can only imagine in our worst nightmares.
    Help me to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slowly through the store aisles and blocking my shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year they go shopping together.
    Help me to remember that those in our country that do not speak ‘our language’ may be able to speak the language of love, if I would be patient and understand that they feel alone, out of place, and are looking for a new beginning from a place of poverty, persecution, and hopelessness to a place of security, freedom, and a promise for a future.
    Help me to reach out to those who are grieving today for some reason or another and to lend what help I can as they carry the burden of sadness.
    Remind me each day, that of all gifts I’ve been given, the greatest of which is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open my heart, not just to those who are close, but to all humanity.
    Teach me to be slow to judgment, quick to forgive, patient, empathetic and to love – TO LOVE! 

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