I WILL KEEP YOU IN MY PRAYERS
“Anything is a blessing which makes us pray.”
Charles Spurgeon
“Please, keep me in your prayers." ... “I will keep you in my
prayers.”
Like most around me do, I, too, either request my well-wishers to do it, or, assure I would do. During these tough times, I find myself doing it more often… Yes, the situation we are now faced with is beyond our control… God is remembered more intensely by all of us now than ever before…
Yes, you and I are certainly seen prying for self… But, are we seen praying for ‘others’?
I really don’t know…
Praying for my nearest and dearest ones may come to me naturally; for, in that, too, lies my self-interest. But, praying for everyone out there - near or far, dear or otherwise – yes, this is what the following story is all about. During this Pandemic, people are seen passing it on, just to convey one’s feelings: “I will keep you in my prayers”:
OUR BLESSINGS ARE NOT THE FRUITS
OF OUR PRAYERS ALONE
A voyaging ship was wrecked during a
storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small desert-like
island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no
other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful,
they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of
the island.
The first thing they prayed for was
food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of
the land and he was able to eat its fruits. The other man’s parcel of land
remained barren…
After a week, the first man was lonely
and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, there was a woman, who swam to his
side of the land. On the other side of the land, again, there was nothing!
Soon, the first man prayed for a
house, clothes and more food. The next day, like magic, all these things were
given to him. However, the second man still had nothing!
Finally, the first man prayed for a
ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found
a ship docked on his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with
his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other
man unworthy to receive God’s blessings, since none of his prayers had been
answered.
As the ship was about to leave, the
first man heard a voice from the heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your
companion on the island?”
“My blessings are mine alone, since
I was the one who prayed for them,” said the first man, “His prayers were all unanswered;
so, he does not deserve anything.”
“You are mistaken,” the voice
rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you
would not have received any of my blessings.”
“Tell me, O God,” the first man
asked the voice. “What did he pray for that I should owe him anything.”
“He prayed that all your prayers be
answered.”
For all we know, our blessings are
not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.
When everything is going fine for us, God and prayers are simply rituals. It’s only when our ships are wrecked and we are tossed on to these islands of hopelessness and fear, that, both, God and prayers, become meaningful to us… And, as the story beautifully conveys, that our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone… There are so many out there – many of them invisible – who pray for us!
When a small group of my students came online, yesterday at mid-noon, I was a bit annoyed with Shilpa*. “Why didn’t you send your homework, Shilpa?” I asked, “Three days were not enough?”
“Sorry for that, Sir,” Shilpa said quite clearly, “I am quarantined.”
“Why, what happened?” I asked instinctively, knowing what would be the answer.
Shilpa said, that her both parents and elder sister were isolated, in separate rooms in the particular quarantine centre, as they were tested Covid positive and symptomatic. She was tested positive but asymptomatic and, hence, was allowed to keep her 3-year-old kid brother (the only person in the family who was spared of Covid) with her!
When I heard this story, I felt guilty for asking her about the homework, and, for teaching her in such a situation. So, I said, “Beta, you please recover; this class is not very important now.”
But, Shilpa insisted on continuing, saying, “Sir, it will keep me busy and cheerful.”
I inquired with Shilpa about her parents and elder sister. “Beta, I will keep you and your family in my prayers,” I assured her, “All of you will come home soon in good health.”
And, that’s, also, the last thing my wife and I said to the family of her cousin sister, who is just ship-wrecked into a Covid centre…
“We will keep you in our prayers!”
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic's.: pixabay
Video: SonyMusicIndia VEVO
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