An alternative to media-bashing?

At a church meeting I attended recently, one man radiated a "presence" that many noticed. Folks gathered around him, and during a break I found myself talking to him about prayer. I explained that my life is so busy I have almost no time to spend in God's presence. "Do you read a newspaper?" he asked. Of course I do, either in print or online.

He said he combines reading the paper with prayer each day! Instead of bashing the media, he starts on page one, praying about each event reported there. He's especially grateful for any good news he finds on the front page. The local news is his "listening page," where he listens for any idea God might give him -- maybe writing a letter about a council vote, or taking clothes to a needy family. On the society page he prays for each new marriage and each newborn baby, and on the obit page he prays for the families of those who died. He opens his thought to God's healing through laughter on the comic page, and prays to find divine wisdom on the editorial page. I asked if he felt his prayers made a difference in the world. "Oh yes," he said, "but it begins with me."