This week I am posting something that I really, really like, but is just a little long for my Daily Dose of Happiness formet. It was passed along to me by a reader, but the author is not known.
A Friend's Prayer
A ship was wracked during a storm at sea only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. The two survivors, not knowingly, what to do, agreed to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the island between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.
The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its fruits. The other man's side of island remained bare.
After a week, the first man was lonesome and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. On the other side of the island, the second man had nothing.
Soon, the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.
Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, a ship docked at his side of the island. He boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the second man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers was answered.
As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven: "Why are you leaving your friend on the island?"
"My blessings are mine alone, because I prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything."
"You are wrong!" the voice said. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessing."
"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "What did he pray for?"
"He prayed that all your prayers be answered?
The End.