MY PRAYER

 

          MY PRAYER

There is hardly a person in this vast world who does not recite a prayer in the morning and expresses his gratitude to God at night before lying in his bed for a few hours’ sleep.

 

The morning  prayer is a mixed recitation of desires and appreciations. There is a demand for things  like more prosperity, greater material success; better health; longer life; happier days and nights; more popularity; more assets and fuller gratification of several desires.

 

And for all the above-mentioned fulfillments, the prayer also carries the praise of God and a promise of worshipping Him as a life-long faithful devotee.    

 

I believe that a prayer for personal gains deserves no admiration. It has a great element of selfishness. A perfect devotee of God loves the whole world and prays for everybody’s peace and prosperity. Moreover, his prayer is for the attainment of those virtues which make him a nobler man each passing day.  

 

 Finally, here is an extract from the poem Lord, Make A Regular Man Out Of Me,  written by the American poet Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959):

 

This I would like to be --- braver and bolder,

Just a bit wiser because I am older,

Just a bit kinder to those I may meet,

Just a bit manlier taking defeat;

This for the New Year my wish and my plea---

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

 

            This is the first part of the four-stanza poem. The concluding one reads as follows:

 

This I would like to be ----just a bit truer,

Less of the wisher and more of the doer,

Broader and bigger, more willing to give,

Living and helping my neighbor to live!

This for the New Year my prayer and my plea---

Lord, make a regular man out of me.

                                    *********

G.R.Kanwal

6^th April 2025