Write a Prayer-a-Day Project

Today is for energy and motion!  Lets us move into this day, resolved to change, undaunted by insecurity or anxiety.  Give a little, get a little; give a lot, get everything.  Either way, we make manifest change by simply acting, by merely leaving the door and engaging with life.  Movement is all.  We may not succeed in everything we attempt, but we will be further along than we are at this moment.  Success is measured in smiles, in good-deeds done, and in the hearts we touch.  We are destined for greatness, for we are great in our Be-ing.  So, Do! Be! Do-be do-be do!  Today we are grateful, simply.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

In our search to be fully engaged in our lives, we must accept and practice vulnerability.  And yet, to be vulnerable is to be exposed, to be unsettled, to stand with our souls naked to the world.  It is a dangerous place to be.  However, it is necessary if we are to engage wholly and authentically with each other.  For what we find when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable is that we open to love and connection; we recognize that we are all flawed in our own unique and marvelous ways.  So do not fear being vulnerable: it is, ultimately, that which makes us strong.  We are thankful for opportunities of authenticity.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

If only there were words.  Words of inspiration; words of motivation; words of comfort; words of determination.  Yet, not only words, but energy behind them, and motion through them.  To see an ideal in our hearts, to have the impetus to engage, and the power to act is some form of spiritual alchemy.  It has been said that prayer is when we speak to God, meditation is when we listen for the message of the universe.  What then is the word for what we do once we receive the call?  Mission?  Quest?  Pilgrimage?  Perhaps the word matters less than simply fulfilling the call.  May we, this day, pray, listen, and act.  For all our quests, both spiritual and temporal, we are thankful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

A prayer to the gods of paradox: Life is like Box of  Pandora – you never know what you’re going to get.  It is marvelous and terrible all at the same time.  Unpredictability causes anxiety, and yet we mostly only encounter randomness in our lives.  So may we answer paradox in kind: when the unexpected happens, do the unexpected!  Laugh in the face of death!  Love through the preponderance of hate!  Find fulfilment where there is apparently only austerity.   Respond to each unexpected event with gladness, whole-heartedness, gratitude and grace, and you’ll not go wrong.  We give thanks for nimble hearts and minds.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Life is like a recipe: choose the proper ingredients in appropriate amounts; add them together with intention and care; bake well.  What comes out is an expression of the baker, is beautiful to behold and delicious to eat!  The ingredients in our recipe include spiritual practice, proper diet, exercise, fun activities, contemplation and reflection.  We fold in love, compassion, deep listening, humility and grace.  We bake in the heat of our sun and the warmth of our community.  Slice it up, pass it around, and all will be nourished.  Share your recipes!  Today may we be grateful for ingredients, process, and the bread of life.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Everyday brings some form of transition.  They may be quite small or they may be extreme; usually they are somewhere on the spectrum in between.  Regardless, change and transition are unsettling.  We best navigate them when we are calm and centered.  The hustle and bustle of the world will work to tip us away from center: do not fight it.  Instead, we must lean in to the discomfort, and trust in our spiritual ballast to right us again.  Soundly, we will rise again to the top, the waters will always calm, and we will sail on, ever on.  Today we are grateful for buoyancy.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Speak out today, in a clear and resounding voice!  Share your authentic prophetic message with the world.  Let it speak of joy and compassion; of love and engagement; let it speak of all the promise found in living with clear and honest intention.  The ears of the world are anxious for your message!  They are filled angst-laden moans and desperate dirges.  So change the tune!  Sing of the hope and promise that is abundant if only we abandon petty selfishness and embrace the ideals of world community.  Join the choir, and together we will make the chorale anew.  For our prophetic voices we rejoice.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

May our legs this day be swift; may our muscles burn strong and our lungs be clear.  May we approach our lives this day as the Olympic runner would: conditioned, focused, and present.  May we have the grace of a dancer, the timing of a comedian, and the pathos of the orator.  May our actions move outward today, to connect, to rejuvenate, to engage.  We plunge headlong into each moment, alive, vital, fragile and strong.  We have the gifts we need, we need only give them, with generosity and gladness.  We will receive in turn all the bounty of life and love, which we recycle into motion and energy, in the never-ending cycle of the cosmos.  For swift motion and stamina we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

If I were a frog, I would pray for flies.

If I were a tree, I would pray for a swing.

If I were a tool, I would pray for a project.

If I were a grassy field, I would pray for somersaults.

If I were a stage, I would pray for a performance.

If I were a war, I would pray for peace.

If I were a head, I would pray for a hat.

If I were today, I would pray for tomorrow.

Prayer is the nature of all things, and all prayers are heard and answered.  So, be mindful for what you pray.  Our prayers are our gratitude.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

There’s magic to do!  Our very waking is a miracle.  Moving through our day is a remarkable trick!  This type of magic is not about deception, though: the magic of our living experience is the awareness of the mystery that surrounds us.  We conjure compassion from desperation; we summon support from indifference.  We perform our magic for the audience of humanity, to their wonder and delight.  And the question is always the same: how does the magician do it?  How do we continue when we’ve been shut down?  How do we care for others we don’t even know?  How do we find hope in a callous world?  There is magic to do: may we get to it.  For the metaphoric rabbits pulled from our allegoric hats, we give thanks.  Alakazam, presto chango, Blessed Be, and Amen.