I was reading an interview with the psychiatrist Harold Koenig of Duke University, who has done excellent research on the link between spirituality and health. He had this to say about praying for others:
“I think for the person who is praying, that praying for someone else is better than praying for him/herself… If you’re praying for someone else, that’s like a prayer one step above because that means you’re concerned about the benefit of that other person, which is something which, according to the scriptures, you’re rewarded for.”
The next day I was wondering if that was really true, if there were some tangible results from praying for others. The thought circulated in my brain while I was doing my morning jog, especially as I was climbing the hill that always seems such a challenge. I was half-tempted to cut the run short. I wasn’t really into it. Too tired, too self-absorbed, too busy concentrating on my aches and pains.
I rounded a corner and came upon a friend running toward me. His wife is suffering from cancer and though I’d been getting regular email updates, I hadn’t seen him in a couple of weeks.
At once I reversed my steps and ran with him to catch up. Huffing and puffing, we talked. She’d been back from the hospital for a few days, was getting her strength back. The way the cancer has been metastasizing made the doctors guardedly hopeful.
I gave him an awkward hug—two sweaty dudes in T-shirts—then ran home, praying for him and his family. Only later did I realize I ran an extra loop.
In the dumps? Worried sick? At a spiritual dead end? Pray for someone else.
