A little essay, that I found in a pew

Since a lot of you wanted copies of a little essay, that I found in a pew of a small chapel in Arizona, I decided to reproduce it for you in my column this week. It goes as follows:

“I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself. I cannot say “Father” if I do not approach God like a child. I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am not laying up some treasure there right now. I cannot say “hallowed be thy name” if I am careless with that name. I cannot say “thy kingdom come” if I am not working to actualize it in the here and now. I cannot say “thy will be done” if I am resentful of what will be for me at this moment. I cannot say “on earth as it is in heaven” if I don’t look on heaven as my future home. I cannot say “give us our daily bread” if I am overanxious about tomorrow. I cannot say “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” if I am waiting to settle a score with someone. I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately put myself in a place to be tempted. (A sage teaches it is a smart person who flees temptation and does not leave a forwarding address.) I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I am not prepared to pray as though everything depends on God and work as though everything depends on me. Dag Hammerskjold wrote, “Hallowed be thy name, not mine. Thy kingdom come, not mine. Thy will be done, not mine.”