Papa's Prayer...

It's funny how things have a way of becoming part of the ordinary. Pictures on the wall become just part of the wall as you walk past them every day and never stop to look at the precious images that took your breath away at the first sight of them, the same could be said with notes you once treasured from a loved one, or your baby's footprint from the hospital, etc. etc. Two things stand out among all the others to me right now. The list of Wise Ways to Live Without Regrets that I cut out of the church bulletin years ago and have taped to the shelf above my desk. The list that was my New Year's Resolution. The little piece of paper I see every single day and still have seemed to neglect the wise ways listed on the paper. If I woke up tomorrow and it was gone I would notice, yet I fail to stop and notice it each day... man, I could be so much wiser by now if only I had taken the time to read it every day from January 1 until now! Wasted Wisdom! : )

But the big one... the reason for this post.. is the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi that is framed less than a foot away from that wisdom list. I wonder how I could have missed the gift of this message all this time... It is one of my favorite possessions, not only for the value in the words, but for the man who gave it to me.. my Papa.

My Papa is a man of loves, and when he finds something he loves he buys a lot of them and hands them out like the candy man at every church. Through the years we've all been given various 'loves' from the Bop It! game, to books, to prayers.

Tonight when the ordinary finally stood out to me again I took the prayer down off the shelf and carefully opened the back of the frame where I remembered tucking in the letter that Papa included with the gift. In his letterhead is a short typed note with his distinct signature at the bottom. This is what it said...

To our special friends

As we thought about an appropriate gift for this special Christmas season; a time for rejoicing, a time to remember the less fortunate, the children, the hurting for a myriad of reasons, and yes for our service men on the field of battle; these words say it all.

For a thousand years and from generation to generation the prayer of St. Francis has been passed down. Those of us who have so much need to be reminded that to whom much is given much should be given back.

Merry Christmas and God Bless.

Papa

I will share the prayer of St. Francis in a minute but first I want to acknowledge the wise, tender hearted and compassionate man by grandfather is. He has shown by example what a giving spirit looks like. He raised my father, one of the greatest men I know, to be a giving man. My Dad has given to friends, family and strangers, never questioning, just giving and giving from his heart. I like to think that Dad taught me how to give... although I will be the first to admit unfortunately it is not always with the most cheerful heart...I am reminded tonight how that needs to change. My Papa has had an incredible life, one with many mountaintop moments and his share of valleys as well, but through it all I can not ever remember a time that he was not giving. I remember when he went through his Bop It! phase. When he called me over to the car to give me his newest find he opened the trunk to reveal easily twenty games back there! I'm not sure if he handed out the prayer of St. Francis like he did Bop Its! but the thought makes me smile with my whole heart! I love my Papa for the man he is and for the gift of this prayer that I will surely hand down to the next generation in my family...

Prayer of St. Francis of Assissi
Lord make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master; grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Although I still really like my list of Wise Ways to Live Without Regrets from the church bulletin, I think I have found my new Life's Resolution. Thanks Papa... I promise to not let your prayer be merely a frame on the shelf anymore. I will aspire to read it every day and commit it to my memory, and my heart.