On Prayers for Help

I came across this prayer recently, and I had to laugh.

Yes.

After all, the Christian tradition has given us thousands upon thousands of beautiful prayers: words of penitence, gratitude, joy, and sorrow covering every theme the human heart can articulate and many it cannot. The cries for guidance, help, and strength reverberate through the centuries and across the millennia in these prayers, reminding us that we are not so very different from one another after all.

The prayer books and liturgical service guides for the various denominations often contain the very best of these.

And yet none of these prayer books contain this pithy prayer I’m about to share with you.

(It’s a sure and definite oversight, in my opinion.)

May your prayers today be as honest as this one:

Dear Lord, so far today I’m doing all right.

I have not gossiped, lost my temper, or been greedy, nasty, selfish, or self-indulgent.

I have not whined, cursed, or complained, nor have I eaten any chocolate.

I have charged nothing on my credit card.

But I will be getting out of bed in a minute, and I think that I will really need your help then.

Amen.