Mary Stewart's Prayer

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After my Mom died I collected all the documents she had on her computer and some that were simply written by hand on scraps of paper. A few were stories, one of which was her version of Christmas. One of the other documents she had was Mary Stewart's prayer, one she mentioned to me years ago. At the time I didn't think much of it, but Mom thought it was important enough that she kept a copy of the prayer.
When I ran across it recently I wondered what kind of prayer the Queen of Scotland would pray, and why - and who preserved it. I had the wrong Mary.
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, queen regnant of Scotland, wife of Francis II of France and potential heir to the English throne, lived from 1542 to 1587 and was executed by Elizabeth I, who found her guilty of plotting against the Crown of England.

Good book anyway!

It also was not Mary Stewart, the English author of The Merlin Trilogy, (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment). I really liked her books, though.
This Mary Stewart was the principal of Longmont High School in Colorado when she penned this prayer in 1904. The prayer is used by many women's clubs in Canada, United States and Britain as an opening prayer for their meetings.

Mary Stewart's Prayer
Keep us, O God, from pettiness; let us be large in thought, in word, in deed. Let us be done with fault-finding and leave off self-seeking. May we put away all pretense and meet each other face to face, without self pity and without prejudice. May we never be hasty in judgment, and always generous. Let us take time for all things; make us to grow calm, serene and gentle. Teach us to put into action our better impulses, straightforward and unafraid. Grant that we may realize it is the little things that create differences, that in the big things of life, we are as one. And, O Lord God, let us not forget to be kind!
Amen.

Mom added one line to this file at the end of this document: COURAGE-FEAR THAT HAS SAID ITS PRAYERS.
Mom often found some good stuff.

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