Ten the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?’. And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ » (Matthew 25:37, 40).
THE END OF THE YEAR 2008 was fast approaching and River Jordan, a renowned author who lived in Nashville, Tennessee, could only think about her two sons. One would be deployed to Iraq and the other to Afghanistan, as soldiers in the United States Army.
One day her thoughts were unexpectedly drawn in another direction. River was at a park when a stranger came up to her.
«Can you spare a dollar for me?» the woman asked.
When River replied that she had no money, the woman took a dollar from her pocket.
«This is for you,» she told her.
«I can’t take it,» River replied.
Then the stranger partially lifted her pant leg and showed her a metal leg. She proceeded to tell her the story of how she earned a living by begging. So River asked her if she could pray for her. To her surprise, Esther (that was the strangers name), not only accepted her offer, but also prayed for River herself. Then she bade her farewell.
«Remember me in your prayers, River Jordan,» said the woman as she walked away.
That evening River attended church, placed her wrinkled dollar bill on the offering plate and prayed for Esther. But her experience that day left an enduring imprint in River. «Why not keep on praying for Esther?» she wondered. «And why not pray for other strangers?» Then she made a decision that would forever change her life: she would pray for one stranger every day of the new year. She already had her New Year’s resolution! A resolution that would draw her out of her small prayer circle, in which there was barely room enough for her loved ones, and would open her eyes to the needs of so many people for whom Christ had also died.
River Jordan’s experience made me think about how small my prayer world is: requests for my loved ones, my needs, my projects. . . Then that same evening, after reading a portion of her book, Praying for Strangers, I prayed for Mr. Peter, an elderly man who bags groceries at the supermarket where I shop.
Dear Jesus, open my eyes that I may see «the least of your brethren» in the people who are not part of my world, the precious souls for whom You died on the cross. Help me to be more sensitive to their needs, and to do my part so that they may also know of Your wonderful love.