I just wanted to stop by and share this prayer with everyone.  It really gives you something to think about.

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A different kind of prayer...

"Heavenly Father,

Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in traffic last  night is a single mother 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 her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans 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 annoyingly slow  through the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this  will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you  give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with  those we hold dear. Open our hearts not just to those who are close to us, but to all humanity. Let us be slow to judgment and quick to forgiveness and patience and empathy and love.

IN JESUS' MIGHTY NAME, AMEN!"

Hello Mahlon:

I so love your prayer and I agree that God wants us to look beyond the outer parts of people and see and even understand that what they may show the world is not truly who they are.

When we reach out to others, the homeless, the addicted or afflicted, the sick, the poor, it is such a heart thing as we are offering them sometimes HOPE - by just acknowledging them, this may sometimes be all they need. Underneath it all they are people like you and I. They have just lost their way.

I did reach out to a young homeless woman the day before Christmas Eve. I took her into a coffee shop and get her a hot cocoa and then went and sat with her and talked to her. I will never forget the look in her eyes -- she was so far away. Not sure if FEAR or what. I did give her a few dollars for bus fare and my telephone number but I wish I had done more. She was found murdered 6 days later and it broke my heart.

Thanks!

Blessings

Elaine