February 11, 2005

How much does a prayer weigh?

Just how much does a prayer weigh? Although no one knows for sure, the Bible says the twenty-four elders have “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev 5:8). Imagine all your prayers in a golden bowl! Since our prayers are like incense (which is not very heavy) think of how many prayers would need to go in a bowl for it to weigh anything at all.

A story is told of a grocery store owner who tried to weigh a prayer.

It seems a tired looking woman came into his store and asked for enou­gh food to make dinner for her three children. The grocer asked her how much money she had to spend. The frail lady answered, “I have nothing to offer but a little prayer.”
The grocer was not sentimental nor religious so he said, half-mock­ingly, “Write it out on paper, and I will weigh it.” So she did.
The grocer placed the prayer on the weight side of his old-fash­ioned scale. Then he began piling food on the other side; but to his shock and amazement, the scale would not go down. He finally became flustered and gave the woman a very large bag full of food.
The shopkeeper never saw the woman again, but he treasures the slip of paper upon which her prayer had been written;
“Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread.”

2 comments:

Loveena Raj said...

To read that again was ... nostalgic. I still remember when I heard that story for the first time in my Catechism Class. I studied in a convent school and we had Catechism Every Morning First Period after assembly and morning prayers. I loved those classes.

Anyway, I thought of writing out my prayer ... unfortunately had no scales to measure! But that was of no consequence for me! Even back then as a kid I 'waited for His time - for in His time He makes all things beautiful' ... Today, I just know He 'listens' to all prayers .... else I would never have come this far !

Have a good week end ...

che sara sara said...

yeah ....this was from pilgrims journal....one of my favorite .....i too beleive that God watches every one very keenly...and He heeds our every plea
A good weekend for u too