Denzel Washington on Prayer: 'Put Your Shoes Way Under The Bed at Night So You Gotta Get on Your Knees in the Morning'
Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington believes that a good way to make sure you pray every morning is to place your shoes "way under the bed at night." Doing that he says ensures that you "gotta get on your knees in the morning.
In an inspirational speech to a group of young actors, highlighted in a video posted on Facebook by R&B singer and fellow actor Tyrese Gibson Sunday, Washington encouraged the group of what appeared to be student actors to use their talent for good and never forget to pray.
"I pray that you all put your shoes way under the bed at night so that you gotta get on your knees in the morning to find them. And while you're down there thank God for grace and mercy and understanding. We all fall short of the glory, we all got plenty," he told the actors.
"If you just start thinking of all the things you've got to say thank you for, that's a day. That's easily a day," he said.
Washington, who is currently starring in a Broadway adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun," highlighted that before every show, he and the cast gather for prayer led by a little boy (Bryce Clyde Jenkins who portrays the character Travis Younger.
"We have a little boy in our show, we're doing 'Raisin in the Sun,' and we have a circle, we pray every day," said Washington.
"And his prayer, this boy is prayed up, he just prays that we go out and touch someone tonight. He says 'God, somebody out there needs us tonight,'" explained Washington.
He also exhorted the actors to understand that their gifts should not be abused and while it was good to have money, he warned them against abusing their gift for material wealth.
"And we all have that unique gift to go out and touch people to affect people. Understand that gift, protect that gift, appreciate that gift, utilize that gift, don't abuse that gift," said Washington.
"You'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse…now I've been blessed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in my life. I can't take it with me and neither can you. It's not how much you have but what you do with what you have," he said.