HOLD YOUR LOVED ONES CLOSE!

DEAR GOD,

PLEASE HELP ME BE A GOOD SPORT IN THE GAME OF LIFE. I DON’T ASK FOR ANY EASY PLACE IN THE LINE-UP, PUT ME ANYWHERE YOU NEED ME! I ONLY ASK THAT I CAN GIVE YOU 100% OF ALL I HAVE. IF ALL THE HARD LINE DRIVES SEEM TO COME MY WAY I THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIMENT. HELP ME TO REMEMBER THAT YOU NEVER SEND A PLAYER MORE TROUBLE THAN HE OR SHE CAN HANDLE.

HELP ME, O LORD, TO ACCEPT THE BAD BREAKS AS PART OF THE GAME AND MAY I ALWAYS PLAY BY THE RULES, NO MATTER WHAT THE OTHERS DO. HELP ME STUDY THE BOOK SO I’LL KNOW THE RULES.

FINALLY, GOD, IF THE NATURAL TURN OF EVENTS GOES AGINST ME, AND I’M BENCHED FOR SICKNESS OR OLD AGE, PLEASE HELP ME TO ACCEPT THAT AS PART OF THE GAME, TOO. KEEP ME FROM WHIMPERING OR SQUEALING THAT I WAS FRAMED OR GOT A RAW DEAL. AND WHEN I FINISH THE FINAL  INNING I ASK FOR NO REWARDS, ALL I WANT IS TO BELIEVE IN MY HEART THAT I PLAYED AS WELL AS I COULD AND THAT I DIDN’T LET YOU DOWN.

(transcribed from a quotation that sister Mary had at her house in Benito, Manitoba as taken October 02, 2010 at 1015 hours)