Have Some Consideration When You Pray

There are many good reasons for celebrating Christmas as a season of twelve days and we are experiencing one of those reasons today where I happen to live.  It is snowing here this morning and we can now stop singing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” and finally say on this Eleventh Day of Christmas that we have a “White Christmas.”   With the frigid temperatures, howling wind and blowing snow we can stroll through a winter wonderland today.  If we should build a snowman (or woman) I’m not sure he or she would be able to withstand the wind.  Our snowperson just might blow away before melting away on such a day as this.

Christmas continues on this Eleventh Day not only with a blanket of snow to give us a “White Christmas” but also with some more “days off” for school children and others whose work places  are forced to close down.  On the other hand, this storm will create serious problems for those who must go out and drive and work in it and for those who will be adversely impacted by it.  

My dreaming of a “white Christmas” and the fulfillment of that dream may not be beneficial to everyone.   Have you ever thought about that?  What we pray for, what we dream for, might not be good for  our neighbors.  Mark Twain wrote a story about some farmers whose land was suffering from an intense drought. They fervently prayed for rain—and the rain came.  The folks who lived north of these prayerful farmers had had an almost perfect growing season until those drought-stricken farmers began to pray!  The rain came to those folks in the North and their crops were ruined.  The folks living south of those drought-stricken farmers who prayed for rain needed a little rain because their crops were somewhat dry.  But they did not need a lot of rain because they lived near the river.  The prayers of the drought-stricken farmers were answered and those folks to the South received more rain than needed.  The river flooded and all their crops were destroyed.  My dream for a “White Christmas” may, could, will, and does affect others, many of whom were not dreaming my dream.

The idiom, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” supposes that if something is good, acceptable, or beneficial for one person or group of persons, it is or should be equally so for another person or group as well.  Dear friends, that is FAKE NEWS!  So have some consideration for others when you dream and when you pray.

Tunnel vision is to be avoided when we pray.  Who knows
who might be standing in the light on the other side?
Traveling to Machu Pichu via the Train