JUDGE NOT
Sharp-Shooter Annie Oakley - 1800's

Dear God,

Inspiration comes from surprising places...

Annie Oakley was a young American markswoman
and a wealthy world-famous entertainer
in the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show
of the late 1800's.

She was highly acclaimed for her marksmanship
but generally considered to be "very cheap"
with her money.

Annie Oakley - 1922 - Library of Congress

Late in her life she wrote:

"If I spend one dollar foolishly
I see tear-stained faces of little children beaten as I was....

I've made a good deal of money in my time
but I never believed in wasting a dollar
of it...

it is not right to squander that money
in selfish, extravagant living ...
[I] must try to do good with it.

I have never had any children of my own
but I have brought up eighteen of them
and last fall I started on the nineteenth.
I do not adopt them legally but help them out with money as it is needed."

God, let me take two lessons from the life
of a sure-shot wild-west entertainer
who lived more than 100 years ago:

One - Do not presume to judge
or criticize others.

Two - Give to the poor.

I pray to you, dear Lord of cowgirls, children, sharpshooters, and judgments,
please bless your generous servant,
Annie Oakley, and all of us as well.

Amen

Annie Oakley biography

(c) 2011 - Donn B. Murphy

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