The Ragpicker's Prayer

The Ragpicker’s Prayer
By
Og Mandino

For the rest of my life there are two days that will never trouble me again.
The first day is yesterday with all its blunders and tears, its follies and defeats. Yesterday has passed forever beyond my control.
The other day is tomorrow with all its danger and mystery, its pitfalls and threats. Until the sun rises again, I have no stake in tomorrow for it is still unborn.

 With God’s help and only one day to focus all my effort and energy on, this day, I can win! Only when I focus on those two frightening eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, am I in danger of faltering under the load. Never again! This is my day. This is my only day. Today is all there is. Today is the rest of my life and I resolve to conduct myself through every waking hour in the following manner.

 For the rest of my life this very special day God help me…
…to heed the wise advice of Jesus and Confucius and Zoroaster and treat all those I encounter, friend or foe, stranger or family, as I would want them to treat me.
… to maintain a reign on my tongue and my temper guarding against foolish moments of fault finding and insults.
… to greet all those I encounter with a smile instead of a frown, a soft word of encouragement instead disdain or even worse, silence.
… to remain sympathetic and attentive to the sorrows and struggles of others realizing there are hidden woes in every life no matter how exalted or lowly.
… to make haste to be kind to all others realizing life is too short to be vengeful or malicious, too soon ended to be petty or unkind.

 For the rest of my life this very special day God help me…
…to remember that in order to harvest more ears of corn in the fall I must plant more kernels in the spring.
… to keep reminding myself that life always rewards me on terms that I establish and if I never perform or deliver more than that for which I am paid never will I have cause to demand or expect any additional gold.
… to always deliver more than is expected of me whether at work, at home, or at play.
… to labor with enthusiasm and love no matter what the task at hand may be realizing that if I cannot secure happiness out of my work, I will never know what to true happiness is.
… to endure at my chosen work even after other have ceased their labor for now I know that the angel of happiness and the pot of gold await me only at the end of the extra mile that still lies ahead

For the rest of my life this very special day God help me…
… to set goals to be accomplished before the day has ended for now I know that to drift aimlessly from one hour to the next leaves me with only one destination the port of misery.
… to realize that no path to success is too far if I advance bravely and without undue haste just as there are no honors too distant if I prepare myself for them now with patience
… to never give up hope for a brighter tomorrow for I know that if I continue to knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, I am certain to arouse someone.
… to remind myself that success always has a price and I must balance its joys and rewards against the precious piece of my life that I must always exchange in order to achieve it.
…to hold fast to my dreams and my plans for a better life because if I relinquish them, though I may still exist, I will have ceased to live.

For the rest of my life this very special day God help me…
… to strive to fulfill the best that is within me, knowing I have no obligation to achieve great wealth or success, only the obligation to be true to the highest and best that is within me.
… to never succumb to the fear of failing for now I shall be looking up at the goals I have not yet reached rather than peering down at the pitfalls that always threaten me.
… to embrace adversity as a friend who will teach me far more about myself than any joyful run of success or good fortune.
… to remember that failures even when they occur are only guides to success since every discovery of what is false will lead me to seek after what is true and every experience teaches me some form of error that shall afterwards be carefully avoided
…to rejoice over what I have little though it may be, always recalling the oft told tale of the man who was sobbing because he had no shoes until, one day, he met a man who had no feet.

For the rest of my life this very special day God help me…
… to accept myself as I am without ever letting my conscience or sense of duty to force me to live a life’s pattern designed solely for the benefit of others.
… to realize that I must never accept the praise and love of others as a measure of my personal worth for my true value depends far more on how I feel about myself and how involved I am with the world outside.
… to resist the temptation to surpass the achievements of other since this pathetic desire is no more than a sign of insecurity and I will never be me if I allow others to set my standards.
… to ignite all my actions both at work and play with constant sparks of enthusiasm so that my excitement and zeal at whatever I am doing will subdue all difficulties that may otherwise slow my progress.
… to remember that I must pay the price in order to increase my worth for only fools stand idly by and wait for success to arrive and now I know that the only chance to start at the top is in digging a hole.

 For the rest of my life on this day of days God please help me…
… to do onto others as I would have them do onto me, to give more of myself every hour than is expected, to set goals and hold fast to my dreams, to search for the good in every adversity that befalls me, to perform all my duties with enthusiasm and love and, above all, to be myself.
 Please help me to achieve these goals my special friend so that I too may become a rag picker of value, laboring in your name with renewed strength and wisdom to rescue others as you have rescued me. And above all please remain close to me through all this day.

Amen