A prayer

[Delta4Embassy]

More I read the posts on this site, the more I find myself thinking of a prayer,

"God thank you for not making me like them."

 

[Capstone]

Well, you're definitely special, Delta. I'll give you that.

 

[Meriweather]

More I read the posts on this site, the more I find myself thinking of a prayer,

"God thank you for not making me like them."

This made me smile. You do realize (New Testament) that is the prayer of the hypocrite? Are you making a confession?

Of course, you might also be thinking of the beautiful Jewish prayer, which includes:

Thank you for not making me a slave; thank you for not making me a Gentile; thank you for not making me a woman...

In this prayer, Jewish males are not viewing themselves as something special. Rather their focus is on an enormous, yet meaningful task. While many would not want the burden of this task, there are some men who embrace it and they thank God for placing it upon them. They are humbled they meet the criteria that places the burden upon them, and them alone. They accept it without whining, "God, make the slave, the gentile, and most of all the woman help me with all this!" It is their task as Jewish males, and they are appreciative of it.

Perhaps you are simply grateful for a task you are undertaking for God?

 

[Delta4Embassy]

More I read the posts on this site, the more I find myself thinking of a prayer,

"God thank you for not making me like them."

This made me smile. You do realize (New Testament) that is the prayer of the hypocrite? Are you making a confession?

Of course, you might also be thinking of the beautiful Jewish prayer, which includes:

Thank you for not making me a slave; thank you for not making me a Gentile; thank you for not making me a woman...

In this prayer, Jewish males are not viewing themselves as something special. Rather their focus is on an enormous, yet meaningful task. While many would not want the burden of this task, there are some men who embrace it and they thank God for placing it upon them. They are humbled they meet the criteria that places the burden upon them, and them alone. They accept it without whining, "God, make the slave, the gentile, and most of all the woman help me with all this!" It is their task as Jewish males, and they are appreciative of it.

Perhaps you are simply grateful for a task you are undertaking for God?

I'm aware of the origins. My usage though is actually from an episode of the West Wing,

"Toby then goes on to tell a story told to him by a friend of his father's who had been in a Nazi concentration camp. "He said he once saw a guy at the camp kneeling and praying.
He said 'what are you doing?'
The guy said he was thanking God.
'What could you possibly be thanking God for?'
' I'm thanking God for not making me like them.'"
Then Toby says, "Bad people can't be recognized on sight. There's no point in trying.""
The West Wing Isaac and Ishmael

 

[Meriweather]

I'm aware of the origins. My usage though is actually from an episode of the West Wing,

"Toby then goes on to tell a story told to him by a friend of his father's who had been in a Nazi concentration camp. "He said he once saw a guy at the camp kneeling and praying.
He said 'what are you doing?'
The guy said he was thanking God.
'What could you possibly be thanking God for?'
' I'm thanking God for not making me like them.'"
Then Toby says, "Bad people can't be recognized on sight. There's no point in trying.""
The West Wing Isaac and Ishmael

Reminds me of something I heard back in high school:

There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, that it does not behoove any of us to speak ill of the rest of us.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I'm aware of the origins. My usage though is actually from an episode of the West Wing,

"Toby then goes on to tell a story told to him by a friend of his father's who had been in a Nazi concentration camp. "He said he once saw a guy at the camp kneeling and praying.
He said 'what are you doing?'
The guy said he was thanking God.
'What could you possibly be thanking God for?'
' I'm thanking God for not making me like them.'"
Then Toby says, "Bad people can't be recognized on sight. There's no point in trying.""
The West Wing Isaac and Ishmael

Reminds me of something I heard back in high school:

There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, that it does not behoove any of us to speak ill of the rest of us.

"1) ‘There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves us all not to talk about the rest of us’ (variant: ‘… that it hardly becomes any of us to talk about the rest of us’).

This is used in Thornton Wilder’s Pullman Car Hiawatha, a one-act play first published in 1931 (in many ways, a draft of Our Town). A series of characters representing various towns, fields, workers, etc.come out onto stage to deliver small pieces of information as well as a motto derived from various works of literature. The first character to come onstage is a small boy, aged ten or so. There is a stage direction which says he speaks in ‘a foolish voice as though he were reciting a piece at a Sunday school entertainment.’ He says ‘I represent Grovers Corners, Ohio. Eight hundred twenty-one souls. “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves us all not to talk about the rest of us.” Robert Louis Stevenson. Thank ya.’ Then he exits.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations attributes this to Edward Wallis Hoch (1848–1925) and notes that it has been ‘attributed to many other authors.’ Bartlett's Familiar Quotations adds that it first appeared in the Marion, Kansas, Record, a newspaper owned by Hoch, who was at the time governor of Kansas, “and assumed to have been written by him”. Date not given. Another attribution is to historian James Truslow Adams (1878-1949).
The attribution to RLS predates Wilder: '[Stevenson is ] the man who declared that there is so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that fault-finding by any of us is an unseemly piece of work' (Henry de Vere Stacpoole, François Villon, his Life and Times, 1916, p. 245)"
Robert Louis Stevenson Spurious Quotations

nice to know where things come from

 

[Meriweather]

"1) ‘There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves us all not to talk about the rest of us’ (variant: ‘… that it hardly becomes any of us to talk about the rest of us’).

This is used in Thornton Wilder’s Pullman Car Hiawatha, a one-act play first published in 1931 (in many ways, a draft of Our Town). A series of characters representing various towns, fields, workers, etc.come out onto stage to deliver small pieces of information as well as a motto derived from various works of literature. The first character to come onstage is a small boy, aged ten or so. There is a stage direction which says he speaks in ‘a foolish voice as though he were reciting a piece at a Sunday school entertainment.’ He says ‘I represent Grovers Corners, Ohio. Eight hundred twenty-one souls. “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves us all not to talk about the rest of us.” Robert Louis Stevenson. Thank ya.’ Then he exits.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations attributes this to Edward Wallis Hoch (1848–1925) and notes that it has been ‘attributed to many other authors.’ Bartlett's Familiar Quotations adds that it first appeared in the Marion, Kansas, Record, a newspaper owned by Hoch, who was at the time governor of Kansas, “and assumed to have been written by him”. Date not given. Another attribution is to historian James Truslow Adams (1878-1949).
The attribution to RLS predates Wilder: '[Stevenson is ] the man who declared that there is so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that fault-finding by any of us is an unseemly piece of work' (Henry de Vere Stacpoole, François Villon, his Life and Times, 1916, p. 245)"
Robert Louis Stevenson Spurious Quotations

nice to know where things come from

Yes, I agree. It's a bit like archaeology, which I find fascinating as well.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

"1) ‘There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves us all not to talk about the rest of us’ (variant: ‘… that it hardly becomes any of us to talk about the rest of us’).

This is used in Thornton Wilder’s Pullman Car Hiawatha, a one-act play first published in 1931 (in many ways, a draft of Our Town). A series of characters representing various towns, fields, workers, etc.come out onto stage to deliver small pieces of information as well as a motto derived from various works of literature. The first character to come onstage is a small boy, aged ten or so. There is a stage direction which says he speaks in ‘a foolish voice as though he were reciting a piece at a Sunday school entertainment.’ He says ‘I represent Grovers Corners, Ohio. Eight hundred twenty-one souls. “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves us all not to talk about the rest of us.” Robert Louis Stevenson. Thank ya.’ Then he exits.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations attributes this to Edward Wallis Hoch (1848–1925) and notes that it has been ‘attributed to many other authors.’ Bartlett's Familiar Quotations adds that it first appeared in the Marion, Kansas, Record, a newspaper owned by Hoch, who was at the time governor of Kansas, “and assumed to have been written by him”. Date not given. Another attribution is to historian James Truslow Adams (1878-1949).
The attribution to RLS predates Wilder: '[Stevenson is ] the man who declared that there is so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that fault-finding by any of us is an unseemly piece of work' (Henry de Vere Stacpoole, François Villon, his Life and Times, 1916, p. 245)"
Robert Louis Stevenson Spurious Quotations

nice to know where things come from

Yes, I agree. It's a bit like archaeology, which I find fascinating as well.

Have mixed feelings about some archaeology, hard to deny it's graverobbing at times, and grave desecration at others.

 

[Avatar4321]

Odd prayer. But whatever gets you talking to the Lord