I knelt to pray, when day was done,
and prayed: “O Lord, bless everyone!
Lift from each saddened heart 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 share the load
of any sister on the road.
I did not even go to see
the sick man just next door to me.
Yet once again, when day was done,
I prayed: “O Lord, bless everyone!”
But as I prayed, into my ear
there came a voice that whispered clear:
“Pause now, my child, before you pray:
whom have you tried to bless today?
God’s sweetest blessings always go
by hands that serve Him here below.”
And then I hid my face and cried,
“Forgive me, God, I have not tried!
But let me live another day
and I will live the way I pray.”