Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed,
Lord, prop us up on our leanin’ side. After hearing him pray that prayer
many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.
He answered, ‘Well sir, you see, it’s like this . . . I got an old barn out
back. It’s been there a long time, it’s withstood a lot of weather, it’s
gone through a lot of storms, and it’s stood for many years. It’s still
standing, but one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went
and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn’t
fall.
Then I got to thinking ’bout that and how much I was like that old barn. I
been around a long time, I’ve withstood a lot of life’s storms, I’ve
withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I’ve withstood a lot of hard times,
And I’m still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time
to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, ’cause
I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times. Sometime we get to leaning
toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning
toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn’t, so we need
to pray, ‘Lord, prop us up on our leaning side,’ so we will stand straight
and tall again, to glorify the Lord.–Author unknown
