The prospect of two high-profile Mormons running for president guarantees that their church will be in the national spotlight, but the impact of their faith on their campaigns is unclear. In a 2007 Washington Post poll, 22 percent of people said they would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate if the person was a Mormon. In a 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a slim majority (53 percent) had a favorable view of the religion.

Every year, around the end of February, I begin thinking about what I should/could give up for lent. Having grown up Southern Baptist, the observance of lent was not part of my childhood religious practice, and the notion of giving up something for lent was as foreign to me as whirling like a dervish.

As we head into the season of Lent, there will be much talk in congregations about what you or I might "give up" during the season and how our fast might lead us deeper into relationship with God. I am a big proponent of this practice, but I haven't always been very successful in my own efforts at self-denial.

When our children were very young, someone gave me a copy of a list of 10 things to pray for your child. My friend, a prayer warrior, prayed these petitions daily for her children and encouraged me to do the same. Well, the list has since been lost but there is one request that I remember and that I do pray for daily.