"Teach Me What I Need to Know"

"Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise, apply your heart to what I teach." Proverbs 22:17

Everybody should have a friend like Ralph.

He can fix a lamp or a lawn mower, refinish furniture, build bookshelves. All by himself he has transformed his garage into a workshop and completely remodeled his mother's house.

One day, marveling at these results over coffee, I asked, "Ralph, where did you learn to do all this? Who taught you - your father?"

Thoughtfully he sipped his coffee, his blue eyes twinkling, "I never knew my father," he said. "But I did meet a good carpenter a long time ago. And he still helps me In fact, every time I have a problem, all I have to do is stop and ask him, "Teach me what I need to know.' And he does. This morning, for instance, those boards just wouldn't work. But after I'd stopped and asked him, 'What am I doing wrong?' the answer came: I was cutting them too short."

Then Ralph gave me the words of his own special prayer:

Jesus stand beside me.
Guide and direct my life.
Teach me what I need to know.
Help me with my work.
Let me serve You and others,
That I may be worthy of God's grace.

Ralph's special prayer has become a part of my own life now. I say it every morning. And all day. Whenever I am anxious or confused about a situation, one phrase of the prayer comes to my rescue: "Teach me what I need to know." Of all the things Ralph has done to help me, his prayer has helped most of all.

By Marjorie Holmes, take from, "Women's Devotional Bible"