Louise
Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of
defeat on her face, walked into a grocery
store. She approached the owner of the store
in a most humble manner and asked if he would
let her charge a few groceries.
She softly
explained that her husband was very ill and
unable to work, they had seven children and
they needed food. John
Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and
requested that she leave his store.
Visualizing the family needs, she said:
"Please, sir! I will bring you the money
just as soon as I can." John told her he
could not give her credit, as she did not
have a charge account at his store.
Standing
beside the counter was a customer who
overheard the conversation between the two.
The customer walked forward and told the
grocer that he would stand good for whatever
she needed for her family. The
grocer said in a very reluctant voice, "Do
you have a grocery list?" Louise replied, "Yes sir"
"O.K." he said, "put your grocery
list on the scales and whatever your grocery
list weighs, I will give you that amount in
groceries."
Louise,
hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then
she reached into her purse and took out a
piece of paper and scribbled something on it.
She then laid the piece of paper on the scale
carefully with her head still bowed. The
eyes of the grocer and the customer showed
amazement when the scales went down and
stayed down.
The grocer, staring at the
scales, turned slowly to the customer and
said begrudgingly, "I can't believe it." The customer smiled and the grocer started
putting the groceries on the other side of
the scales.
The
scale did not balance so he continued to put
more and more groceries on them until the
scales would hold no more.
The grocer stood
there in utter disgust.
Finally,
he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales
and looked at it with greater amazement. It
was not a grocery list, it was a prayer which
said: "Dear Lord, you know my needs and
I am leaving this in your hands." The
grocer gave her the groceries that he had
gathered and stood in stunned silence.
Louise
thanked him and left the store. The customer
handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and
said, "It was worth every penny of it."
It
was sometime later that the grocer discovered
the scales were broken; therefore, only God
knows how much a prayer weighs.
Author
Unknown
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