Memorial Day motd

[Guest guest]

MY EVENING

PRAYERS

Monday, 30 May 2011

I was raised praying. That's

right, my parents, Leonard and Shirley, taught me how

to pray when I was very young. Every night, they'd

have me get down on my knees, clasp my hands together

and say this short prayer...

"Now I lay me down to

sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. If I

should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to

take. Amen."

After I finished my prayer, my parents taught me to

count my blessings and, count them, I did. "God

bless Mommy, Daddy, Lenny, Mickey, (our dog), Miss

Bing, (our cat) and Pepe, (our pet

Parakeet).

Yep, every night, I'd get on my knees, say my prayers

and count my blessings. I prayed all through

elementary school, high school, college and to this

day, I still pray...every-day.

Now I don't always get on my knees

to say my prayers, like I did when I was a kid. But

I believe God knows those prayers are coming from my

heart and he does hear them. As I've gotten

older, I have a long list of people I pray for

regularly. (That way, I don't forget anyone.) I

always feel so much better after finishing my

prayers. When I'm done, I can crawl into bed, all

secure, close my eyes and dream about the new day God

has planned for me tomorrow.

And who do I pray for? Well, I pray for all of

you, (of course), and for all of my students at

Slimmons. I pray for my brother, Lenny and his wife,

. I pray for our country, our President and his

family. I pray for all of the people in my life

who've been such wonderful and supportive friends to

me. I pray for the homeless and the unemployed. I

pray for those people fighting addictions. (I pray

that God will set them free from their life's

demons.) And yes, I truly do pray for world peace. I

ask God to watch over the men and women in our

military who work so hard to protect our nation's

precious freedoms.

I pray for those Americans who've

lost a family member in the wars our country has

fought. Many of those brave soldiers have given the

ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms so many of us take

for granted. Yes, our freedoms have cost many of them

their lives.

This is Memorial Day. Today, we

remember and honor those many, many thousands of men

and women who've paid for our freedom with their

lives. To say that we owe each and every one of them

a debt of gratitude would be a grand understatement.

Today, across our country, we'll see American flags

flying everywhere, all to honor our brave soldiers.

Many of our fellow countrymen will visit National

Military Parks or National Cemeteries to honor our

fallen heroes. My uncle was in the Army, so were my

father and brother. They all returned home safely and

that's something else I thank God for.

You know, I often wonder if humankind will ever stop

all of the fighting, all of the wars we end up having

with each other. And yes, I pray that those wars will

someday end. Sometimes it's hard to watch TV and see

the number of soldiers we've lost fighting in the

Middle East. Each of those soldiers represents

someone's husband, wife, son, daughter, parent,

sibling or dear friend. I don't just see numbers, I

see the faces of our heroic soldiers.

Now on this Memorial Day, lots of

people will celebrate by, well, eating! Oh

yes, the grills are all fired up and ready for those

hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks. There'll be plenty

of chips, dips, pies and cakes, too. Yep, all of

those classic summer foods will be there to tempt

you.

But you please be strong today,

just like our soldiers. Those brave, remarkable men

and women are working hard for us everyday. Like I

said before, they help insure the freedoms for all of

us living in this great country of ours...

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

Love,