if he could leave us with a blessing. Of course. A very lovely prayer, but one line of it intrigued me.
He said in his prayer, "Bless us that we will help people to be better than ourselves."
I don't think I've ever heard anyone pray for that. I kept thinking about it and then the next morning Den and I discussed it. I said it out loud, "Help people be better than ourselves?" Not that I'm saying we are so great....but it's an interesting concept wanting more goodness for others than we want for ourselves.
He asked me why that line surprises me. So then I added, "I suppose this really would be brotherly love at its finest, right?"
Absolutely! Yes, I've always wanted my children to have more blessings in every way, more than I want it for myself. I think most parents feel this way. So why should that desire not extend towards everyone?
This makes me think of a quote (on my friend Rebecca's blog),
by Benjamin Franklin: "When you are good to others, you are best to yourself."
Or how about this quote I saw recently:
"When you seek happiness for yourself it often eludes you.
When you seek happiness for others, you find it yourself."
I'm still trying to figure this out. Any thoughts?