A reason to pray for Vermont

There are, of course, lots of reasons to pray for Vermont. It's famously unchurched and resistant to churching. It is an innovator in the field of legislated morality, which is about as wise and helpful as being an innovator in the field of arithmetic. And it's a place where winter is long, soggy, painful, debilitating and expensive, so that's a good reason to pray for the poor souls who live here.
But consider this: Vermont's population is at about 626,000. That's it! Two senators, one of whom is the Senate President Pro Tempore, for 626,000 citizens.
But the thing about that number is what it fails to indicate, because Vermont's influence and effect is out of proportion to its size.
El Paso, Texas, comes in at about 665,000.
I'm not saying anything against El Paso, and I have no basis in fact for making any assumptions about the city or the caliber of its citizens. But frankly, which place is more likely to be the setting for a major Hollywood film? Which place is more likely to produce the nation's next poet laureate? Which place is more likely to boast an author on the New York Times bestseller list? Which place is more likely to spark a national movement or capture a musician's imagination? Which place is more likely to produce a national leader or be mentioned in the nightly news?
I know, I know; that's awfully subjective and anecdotal. But it's true, don't you think?
And, even if you agree that Vermont's effect is out of proportion to the size of its population, we could argue about whether that's true because Vermont is productive of genius or simply attractive to it. Because, after all, if there is a great novelist living in El Paso (and again, there could be dozens living there now for all I know) there's a good chance that he'd end up moving to Vermont to write his book.
Let this consideration add some urgency to your prayers for Vermont.
It's part of the reason, by the way, that I love ministering here so much. The work here comes with a terrific sense of potential significance.
What a place!