Today is the National Day of Prayer.
Public prayer observances have been around since before this country began. History records several proclamations of setting aside days for fasting and prayer during Revolutionary War times and immediately after.
The National Day of Prayer as we know it dates from 1952, when President Harry Truman signed a joint resolution of Congress to "set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation."
In his presidential proclamation, President Truman said the day was one "on which all of us, in our churches, in our homes, and in our hearts, may beseech God to grant us wisdom to know the course which we should follow, and strength and patience to pursue that course steadfastly. May we also give thanks to Him for His constant watchfulness over us in every hour of national prosperity and national peril."
The first National Day of Prayer was set for July 4, 1952. Since 1988, the date has been fixed as the first Thursday in May.
It's been a rough year for many. The COVID-19 pandemic. The subsequent economic fallout. Increasing political divisions.
One might say our nation needs the power of prayer more than ever.
"From the earliest days of our history our people have been accustomed to turn to Almighty God for help and guidance," President Truman wrote in that first proclamation of a National Day of Prayer back in 1952.
Let us hope that it will always be thus.