| Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady
with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the
owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few
groceries. She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to
work, hey had seven children and they needed food. John Longhouse, the grocer,
scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store. Visualizing the family
needs, she said, "Please, Sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I
can." John told her he could not give her credit, as she did not have a charge
account at his store. Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the
conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocerman
that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family.
The grocerman said in a
very reluctant voice, "Do you have a grocery list"? Louise replied
"Yes Sir". "O.K.", he said, "put your grocery list on the
scales and whateveryour grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in
groceries". Louise, hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached
into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then
laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed. The eyes
of hte grocerman and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed
down. The grocerman staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said
begrudgingly, "I can't believe it.".
The customer smiled and the
grocerman started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale
did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales
would hold no more. The grocerman stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he
grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.
It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer which said: "Dear Lord, You know my needs
and I am leaving this in Your hands". The grocerman gave her the
groceries that he had gathered and placed on the scales and stood in stunned
silence. Louise thanked him and left the store. The customer handed a
fifty-dollar bill to John as he said, "It was worth every penny of it". It
was sometime later that John Longhouse discovered the scales were broken.
|
THE INSTITUTE OF MIND
SCIENCES PAKISTAN 
