Write a Prayer-a-Day Project

This day belongs to each of us, to do with it as we must and as we may.  Would that we could make the most of every moment, but we can’t, and we won’t.  Rather than mourn the lost moments, let us celebrate those lived out with intention.  Let us rejoice the moments spent in love.  Let us own the moments filled with shame.  Let us heal in the moments that follow suffering.  Let us give comfort in the moment of need.  No moment is wasted, for each moment is Us.  As we are sacred, so too is each moment, and that knowledge is enough.  For each and every moment we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Our lives are a story, written with each passing moment.  We are simultaneously author, protagonist, foil, and fool.  In an instant we go from tragedy to farce.  A love story now, soon it will be a thriller.  Turn the page.  Indulge in the rich narrative.  Like all good books, it will end too quickly, leaving us curious about what the next great read will be.  When we lose ourselves in plot, we will surely find ourselves in the moment.  To live literally is to literally live.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Each day offers us the opportunity to begin again anew.  Some days more than others.  Some times more than others.  Connection is all, relationship is holy.  May we always be open to the spirit of Life moving through us, in us, and around us.  In this way we choose to live open-heartedly, available to the promise of blessing.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

A prayer to end all prayers: when have we prayed enough?  When is the slate washed clean and we are absolved of all our indiscretions?  When do we become perfectly whole, and wholly perfect?  Or was that ever really what praying was all about?  Life is one thing if it is nothing else – process.  It is movement and change and growth.  It is set-backs and failures and disappointments.  It is agony and ecstasy.  Prayer is merely our constant companion.  It is our mantra.  It is our breath.  It is rattle and hum.  It is cosmic vibration.  It is you, and it is me.  May we ever be present and mindful to the wonder of our miraculous existence, simultaneously thankful and forgiving.  We are Enough, and we are All, and we are Holy perfect and perfectly Holy.  For prayer without end we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen!

A prayer of redemption: We all misstep in our lives, we all fail to live up to our best selves.  We carry guilt and shame as psychological, physical and spiritual burdens.  These burdens often define who we are.  Redemption is the process of first owning the shame, and then re-contextualizing how it will define us.  We need not be burdened by our mistakes if we learn and grow from them, transform them into new insight and righteous action.  May we seek redemption for ourselves, and facilitate it in others: it is perhaps the most humane of human activities.  We are thankful for our collective Redemption.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

In all that is large, let us embrace small.  In all that is sensational, let us celebrate the intimate.  In all that is blown out of proportion, let us lift up the seemingly insignificant.  We are drawn to the new, to the shiny, to the bold, and we too often forget to notice the mundane, the familiar and the modest.  And yet, our lives are more significantly informed by these everyday things, these lasting relationships.  May we recognize and celebrate the normal-ness that is Us, joy in every moment, sanctity in each breath.  We are alive, and we are thankful!  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Where do we go when we reach the end?  What do we dream when our dreams are fulfilled?  Living is a constant cycle, and life is the tension that lies within those cycles.  Up and down, back and forth, in and out.  We anticipate the future, we romanticize the past.  All in tension, a harmonic dissonance that simultaneously soothes and agitates.  Let us follow form in the function of this cosmic hum.  Let us buzz and bounce and gyrate and zing on the celestial string.  We Are, and that is All.  Knowing this, we are grateful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

What can our keyboard teach us?  Escape from the suppositions that bind us.  Shift our focus to what is important.  Control is an illusion.  Refresh our perspective.  Alternate between action and reflection.  Clear our minds.  Enter the world that is recreated each day.  Delete negativity.  Life is a karmic Tab – we all will settle it in time.  End our doubts and fears.  Home is where we want to be, and when we reflect we find it is exactly where we are.  There is much wisdom in everyday ordinary objects that surround us, if we simply take the time to notice.  For this awareness we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

And there you are, and here I am, and we’re exactly who we are, and neither of us are exactly who we want to be.  And yet we endure, flourish and thrive.  We suffer, worry, reflect and heal.  We rise to the challenge, we betray the trust.  We are human and this is our condition.  The best that we can do is to own it – all of it – and grow in respect for ourselves and for each other.  May it come to pass.  For our human condition we are grateful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.

Peace of Mind: a bitter truth we share is that there are often voices in our mind telling us we’re not good enough, or smart enough, or worthy of love.  If our spiritual practice is for nothing else, it is to give us a response to these voices.  We answer we are as good as we need be.  We answer we are capable.  We answer yes!  I am worthy.  And so are you.  You – you voice of pessimism and scorn and contempt – you are worthy.  Not of acquiescence, and certainly not worthy of submission, but worthy of acknowledgement and recognition of from where you come.  And then we see the way beyond, the Truth that we are all Worthy, and for this we are thankful.  Blessed Be, and Amen.