Write a Prayer-a-Day Project

May today bring safe travels, in whatever form they take.  May our journey into relationships be healthy and loving.  May our adventure into action be grounded and useful.  May our sojourn into justice be restorative, rather than punitive.  May our exploits be robust and positive.  May the traffic on the spiritual highway be flowing.  May we travel in comfort, reaching our destinations refreshed, ready to explore and play and Be.  For the road we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

To absent friends: we are born with only one guarantee in life – that it will surely end.  Losing loved ones feels as if we’ve lost a part of ourselves, for indeed we have.  And yet, the other ultimate truth, perhaps the only other ultimate truth, is that the love we create in our lives transcends the boundary of mortality.  This is both a comfort and a burden.  It is why we miss our loved ones so.  It is the great irony of our stories – the same thing that brought us so much joy and validation can morph into ultimate grief in an instant.  One solution might be to never love, and thereby avoid the pain.  A better practice is to reinvent our grief into what it is: the joy and embrace that we love deeply, and the processing of that love into the fiber of our being.  Thus, when our time comes, we transition not with regret and remorse and fear, but rather with peace and comfort and the knowledge that we will live on, as active participants in the grand pageant of life; for we have loved, and our love lives on forever.  For love, for grief, for joy, and for life we give our eternal thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Today we find ourselves at a mid-point, halfway between here and there.  It is a time to look back in reflection, and to look forward in anticipation.  In reflection, we see all the good that has enriched our lives.  We also recognize opportunities missed, and regretful actions.  May we simply take it all in, for what it’s worth, accept it, own it, and move on.  So then, we turn and look toward our future.  Hopes, dreams, and aspirations dwell there.  Also there is anxiety, fear of the unknown, and uncertainty.  Yet, we’ve come this far, not unscathed, but whole, standing tall, capable and complete.  There is really nothing to fear on the road ahead, no challenge we can not meet.  There is only the promise of deeper love, richer experience, and continued fulfillment.  So, at this crossroads, pause and take in the view.  catch your breath, and prepare to move on.  For this magnificent journey we are forever grateful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

May we live to see the world we would want.  Let us not wish it into being, but rather let us live it into being.  They say one person cannot change the world, and yet we are, each of us, agents of change every moment.  How we choose to Be will have impact and impetus that will ripple out far beyond our immediate sphere of influence.  So let us be mindful of how we Are, always with a vision of who we would Become.  This is what is meant in living a spiritual life.  It is to cultivate the fine arts of compassion, patience, humility, and service.  They need not be large acts; their mere presence in small measure will grow exponentially.  It is the calculus of Grace.  For intentional living, we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Behold the beauty of motion!  The raptor’s graceful glide on spread wings, or the swallows nimble yet erratic flight as they hunt moths at the traffic intersection.  The peloton with swift legs, elegant line, and the many-colored jerseys.  The waves of the ocean as they crash upon volcanic rock, break, and return from whence they came.  The thoroughbred as it comes out of the final turn, all muscle and sweat, galloping, galloping.  Now behold the beauty of stillness: the grove of aspen trees, all one living organism.  The majestic mountains, steadfast, trustworthy, yet daunting.  The Mona Lisa, staring at the changing world with a knowing smirk.  Ah, beauty – take it in; take it ALL in.  For all this beauty we are forever grateful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Like this prayer, our days are numbered.  We do not know what our own tally is, but we do know that each day it is one fewer.  What we choose to do with this finite resource is important; it ultimately defines us and the mark we will leave on this world.  May we fill our days with love and laughter.  May we share generously our compassion.  May we be moved to tears.  May we enjoy the company of many friends.  May our work be honest.  May we take time to contemplate.  May we be kind to animals.  May we respect and care for our planet.  And may we NOT count the days, but instead live into the fulfillment of the moment.  For our lives we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a neutral place: we’re neither happy nor sad, neither challenged nor triumphant.  Where are we to find spiritual growth in these times?  Just as sleep is the time when short term memories are processed into long term storage, so too can the quiet times be when we process recent growth or awakenings into the core of our being.  A walk in the woods, or a time spent apart in quiet, simple Be-ing can do much for this process.  So listen to the birds, feel the gentle breeze, gaze at clouds, and process what we’ve learned into who we are Be-coming.  For transformation we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

May today be a joining day:

May we join our actions to our longings;

May we join our compassion to our justice;

May we join our work to our calling;

May we join our intentions to our extensions;

May we join our forgiveness to our judgement;

May we join our hubris to our humility;

May we join our disappointments to our anticipation;

May we join our sorrows to our joys;

And may we join our lives to each other, in the promise of community, in the promise of fulfillment, and in the promise of love.  For the cosmic marriage of the yin to the yang, we are eternally grateful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Let today be about making new connections: reaching out in friendship, or being open and receptive to ‘strangers.’  Or perhaps we will discover deeper ties to someone we already know.  We may find new ways of associating, or find ourselves in a new community.  Life is connecting, so let us invite the broadening and deepening of relationship everyday.  To do this, we must be honest within ourselves about who we are.  We must further our compassion, open our trust, and be receptive to new ideas.  We will come to find in the fullness of time that we have received so much more than we have given, and for that we can be thankful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Here’s to accidental inspiration: the web of life is infinite, and ultimately unknowable.  Yet, when one strand is pulled here, a hanging dew drop falls there.  Reverberation is the hum of the universe, the white noise of existence.  This is why we must be mindful of our actions and our words.  This is why we need to live with intention and integrity.  We have no way to know what response will come from what we do this day, but we must be responsible, we must be accountable.  So, let us, this day, go about our business as we must, but let us plant at the center of our being a drum, so that we may feel and hear the resonance of life, pulsing and constant as a heartbeat, and know that we are the hand upon that drum, beating out the rhythm of life.  We are grateful for percussion.  Blessed Be, and Amen.