A spiritually resonating story

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on
it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not
knowing what else to do, agree that they had no other recourse but to pray
to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to
divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man
saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its
fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife.
The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman
who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was
nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day,
like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still
had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could
leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the
island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave
the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to
receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven
booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"

"My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them," the
first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not
deserve anything."

"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I
answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I
should owe him anything?"

"He prayed that all your prayers be answered."

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but
those of another praying for us.

Christ died for the sins of the world, not only because of His great love
for us all, but because he knew that through his scarifice we can come to
understand and attain Eternal Life.

A friend of mine emailed that story to me. I cleaned up all the forwarding arrows and I took out the forward-this-to-everyone-on-the-internet-or-you-are-a-heathen-with-no-soul guilt trip. If I'm going to send a story, I want to share it with people that I care about. If they want to forward it, good for them. If they don't, at least they know I care about them.

This story made me realize that even though Caitlin and I make it a priority to pray on a daily basis, and that God does hear and answer prayers, praying for the welfare of others is just as important as praying for our own well being. "When you are in the service of your fellow being, you are only in the service of your God." - Mosiah 2:17 Prayer is a type a work and is also a form of service to others. I would recommend going beyond just praying for people, but praying for family and friends, church and political leaders, and even co-workers is something we should all do. Myself included.