Story Of The Prayer Of A Clown by Bert Balling

    Once there was a clown who walked from town to town, entertaining people with his dances and tricks and magic. Then one day he got tired of it all and joined a monastery. He wanted to spend the rest of his life honoring God in silence and prayer. But after a while all this prayer and silence dried him up spiritually and he became sad.
   
One day, when he couldn't stand it any longer, he slipped away to a tiny chapel in the forest. There he threw off his heavy clothes and, dressed only in his shorts, he began to tumble and somersault and twirl just as he used to for the village crowds. But this time it was his prayer to the Lord.
    One of the monks who had spied on him reported his strange behavior to the abbot. In fear and embarrassment, the monk stood before his superior and confessed, "Father Abbot, I am not worthy to be a monk. I don't have what it takes. I want to leave and go back to my clowning. My job in life is to make people happy."
    The abbot would not hear of it. He grabbed the clown by the shoulders, looked him straight in the eye, and said, "Brother, you stay right here, and keep right on honoring God in your clowning way. When you tumble and twirl, you pray with body and soul. It is better than the prayers we say with our lips, and often our minds are faraway. Please keep on dancing your prayers to God. You pray better that we do."

---- Bert Balling