The General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) and its members, including the Suffield Woman’s Club, recite this ‘prayer for the day’ written by Mary Stewart in 1904 at each meeting. Also known as ‘the Collect for Club Women’ (but appropriate for everyone) it reminds us that we may disagree on some topics, but that doesn’t preclude us from being kind to each other. I believe if we ask each other why we disagree or how did we come to that conclusion or belief, we would gain a greater, deeper understanding of our fellow human beings. And wouldn’t that little step help seed a kinder world.
A Prayer for the Day
Collect for Club Women
Keep us, O God, from pettiness;
Let us be large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with faultfinding, and leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each other face to face, without self-pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous.
Let us take time for all things; make us to grow calm, serene, gentle.
Teach us to put into action our better impulses straightforward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize it is the little things that create differences, that in the big things of life we are at one.
And may we strive to touch and to know the great common human heart of us all, and,
O Lord God, let us forget not to be kind!
Mary Stewart 1904