Did You Think to Pray?

How often do you pray?

Most if not all religions include prayer as part of their prescribed methods of worship. In America, most people pray fro friends or family, or when they are in desperate need of help.

However, do enough people offer prayers of thanksgiving? Many people who self identify as Christians say their prayers are generally of the beseeching kind—asking God for blessings. They give thanks less often than they ask for things.

As a society, what can be done to make us as individuals and organizations more thankful? After all, gratitude goes a long way toward moral fiber and character.

Should people only offer prayers of thanks in their churches and homes, amongst their fellow worshippers, family members and loved ones? Without trampling on constitutional freedoms, should employers do more to encourage their employees to give praise to God?

While public institutions may run into problems here, private organizations have the right to pray in their everyday business. But do they have a responsibility to do so? If an organization is religious in nature, or if it embraces religious principles, does it have an obligation to be an example to its stakeholders by offering prayers of thanks? Are there benefits for doing so.

One private company, Melaleuca, offers a prayer of thanksgiving at a company picnic every summer. Perhaps such a display in front of thousands of employees and their family members serves as an important reminder to the people in attendance how blessed they are to have jobs, friends, benefits, a health plan, etc.

There are few things worse than a person who is ungrateful. An organization that is defined by ingratitude can be just as bad. Maybe giving prayers of thanks on a regular basis, at home, at church and in our board meetings at the office, will make society a little more gracious overall.