Live The Way You Pray

I knelt to pray when day was done

And prayed, "O God, bless everyone;

Lift from sorrowing hearts the pain,

And let the sick be well again."

And then I woke another day

And carelessly went on my way,

The whole day long I did not try

To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to lift the load

From any brother on the road.

I did not even go to see

The sick man just next door to me.

And yet again, when day was done,

I prayed, "O God, bless everyone."

But as I prayed, into my ear

There came a voice which whispered clear,

"Pause, hypocrite, before you pray;

Whom have you tried to bless today?

Life's sweetest blessings always go

By hands which serve Me here below."

And then I hid my face and cried;

"Forgive me, God, for I have lied;

But let me live another day,

And I will live the way I pray."

By Whitney Montgomery