There was a man who tried to weigh a prayer once but never found the answer.

This man owned a little convenience store in New York.  It was 1918, and the week before Christmas. A worn-out woman came into his little shop and asked him for enough food to make a Christmas meal for her children. He asked her how much she could afford to pay.

The woman answered, “I have nothing to offer but a little prayer. I was widowed in the war”

The shopkeeper, not being very sentimental, was irritated thinking a supply store could not be run like a soup kitchen.

“Write it down,” he said impatiently and turned away.

The woman pulled a piece of torn paper from her pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to him over the counter. “Whilst I was up with my sick baby last night I wrote this down.

The grocer snatched the piece of paper and then regretted having done so. What would he do with it? What could he say?

Without even reading the message, he placed the scrap of paper on one side of his weight scales and said, “We shall see how much food this prayer is worth.”

To his surprise, the scale would not go down when he put a loaf of bread on the other side. It still didn’t go down as he added more groceries He became flustered and kept adding items whilst other customers looked on.

Finally, he said, “Well, that’s all the scales will hold. Here’s a basket.” And he turned away.

With a little weep, the woman took the basket and started packing the food, only stopping to dab her eyes on her sleeve from time to time. The shop owner tried not to look, but he had given her a big basket and couldn’t help but see that it wasn’t quite full. Without another word, he tossed a large wedge of cheese down the counter. Had he glanced at the woman, he would have been rewarded with a timid smile and look of deepest thankfulness.

The man examined his weighing scales once the woman had left. He was perplexed that they were broken as they had worked fine for the previous customer.

That was the first and last time he saw that particular woman. But for the rest of his life he remembered her better than any other customer who came into his shop, and he always kept that tear of paper with her simple prayer: “Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread.” He had got to understand the power of prayer.