As Red Skelton said, God Bless.

Tonight on the eve of Christmas 2006 I would like to share with you a prayer - a prayer that I discovered through a good friend of mine many years ago who gave it to me.

The prayer is not a particularly old one in that it was written sometime in the mid-1800's and what oddly attracted me to it was not - the wisdom, upon reflection that its author was trying to praise God for . . . but rather the fact that the author was an unknown Confederate soldier. I have read quite a lot about the civil war as I grew up in Atlanta and was surrounded by the many battlefields. I was fascinated with stories from that time period and spent time searching for artifacts left from the many battles in and around Atlanta. I thought . . . I might be able to get a historical perspective on the civil war while visiting the many sites around the city. Little did I know that over the next 20 years or so I would read that prayer and it would continue to change me.

The fact that the prayer was authored by a confederate soldier instead of a union soldier or for that matter a person living at anytime in history or today makes little difference, for I believe that what is expressed are human feelings that all people can relate to. Over the years as I have returned to visit this prayer that caught my eye so many years ago and each time I read it I get goose bumps for it reminds me of the importance of having pure motives - God focused and ultimately the importance of where I look for fulfillment. It is on my office wall in front of me each day as a reminder how I choose to live my life.

Here is the prayer:

I asked God for strength that I might achieve.
I was made weak that I might learn to obey.

I asked for health that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy.
I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for,
But everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among all men most richly blessed.

Each of the desires that were expressed is desires that I believe that we can relate to today. Strength, Health, Riches, Power, All things so that we can enjoy life . . . What is not to be desired?

Many of us today . . . have some or even all of the things just mentioned to varying degrees. Do we allow the things we have in our lives define who we are? Do we let them define our happiness? Where do you find your inner peace?

I want to assure you that I am not condemning any of these achievements - as they are a part of everyday life and much good can and does come from them. I am only finding fault with the thought process that says things and achievements will bring happiness.

Happiness does not enter the equation until the decision to be happy is made by any individual. Happiness is the state of mind of being thankful for whatever we do have and the talents we have been blessed with. Without that decision - to be happy independent of everything else - we will find ourselves to be much like my dog, Levi chasing his own tail. Levi will never catch his tail and the result will just be a dizzying frustration.

As humans we will be neither fulfilled nor happy - ultimately. You see pursuing these things that the world tells us bring happiness will only result in us finding that as soon as we reach what we thought was the top we only find there is someone else higher up - and thus in order to be happy we need to get to that next point - which leads to the same discovery - yet someone else further up. Yes it is a never ending cycle.

There are times in my life that I find myself chasing my tail. Working with motivations that I am not proud of - and I ask myself the questions I posed a minute ago "Ice are you letting things define who you are? Are you searching out things in an attempt to make yourself happy? And in those times of impure motives I find I do not like the honest critique that I must give myself. In those times I do selfishly want Strength, Health, Riches and Power for the false reason that I think they will make me happy. It is precisely these times I need to remind myself of what a lie in fact I am living when my motives are impure - and so I remember the author of this prayer, the unknown confederate soldier who faced life thinking he needed Strength, Health, Riches, and Power to be happy and came to understand through prayerful reflection that God gave him each of these things through lessons in life.

Thankfully, most of us have never had to live in the worst of what the world has to offer. Most have food to eat and daily opportunities to interact with others who are interested and care about us. And yet so quickly our minds can run away and begin to be ungrateful and desirous of the pleasures that we presume others to have. And that is exactly what they are presumptions. There are countless things we do not know, for very frequently all we see is the good.

You might interpret what it is that I am suggesting the key to life as being content. Which can be interpreted in various ways - - contentment can sometimes imply stagnation, a lack of progress - - no movement forward. I am in no way advocating this. I try to live and would support the idea of being content with the one's self, with one's God given talents and abilities, but always looking for ways to best put them to use. This is where we should look for success in connecting our talents with the opportunities that appear in our daily lives.

Yes, we are truly blessed . . . each in our own unique way . . . but truly blessed for sure. And this is what we should live each day for - - happy with the strength, health, riches and power that God has blessed us with.

This is how I desire to live my life – Merry Christmas everyone and may God Bless.

Ice