Prayer

In my private spiritual practice prayer generally takes four various forms which can commonly be named thus: "Ooops" "Wow!" "Help" and "Thank You." Sometimes they are combined, as in "Help me" and "Thank you for listening." More often than not, though, they remain true to their form.

Ooops: O Most Holy God, beyond all designations and names, I beseech Thee to have mercy on me for the foibles I foster, the stupidities that claim me again and again, the shortcomings I welcome to command me, and the ways I maintain my transient and narrow affections as if they approve themselves to Thee. For my mistakes are as plenty as Your mercy is wide, and my will is as weak as Your love is strong and enduring. You save me from myself, and for this, and many other blessings, I am grateful. So Be It, Shalom, Namaste, Amen.

Wow!: I stand bathed in Your creation, O My God, and I am struck by more colors and sounds and fragrances and tastes than my senses can hold, and when I hold the hand of my beloved the thrill shoots through my fingers and straight to my heart, and I am in awe of it all. Your works buoy me up like the ocean can hold on its surface a vessel of millions upon millions of tons, and yet I am no vessel of great size and proportion, but a single soul adrift on that same ocean. I cannot contemplate the bottom of this sea or how far the nearest shore is or the distance to the nearest star above, but afloat on this terrible and beautiful sea, I can smell the crisp air and hear the call of the gulls and taste the wet salt and splash the droplets upon my brow and be refreshed. For this moment, O My God, the sea and I are One!

Help: I am lost. I feel alone. I am without. I feel alone. I am discouraged. I feel alone. I am angry. I feel alone. I am afraid. I feel alone. I am lost, without, discouraged, angry, and afraid I am alone. Hear my cry, when no one on this earth can. I need Your Love and Your Forgiveness, for I am stagnant, isolated, confused, inferior, guilty, shamed, in doubt and mistrust, and to live again I must be grasped out of this by a Love larger than me. Wrest me out of this condition, O God, by the scruff of my faded collar and restore me to new life in Thy Loving Purpose and Nobler Ways.

Thank You: Thank you, Dear God, for this good life, for the beauty of the new dawn and the light returning from the darkness; for the cool comfort of the evening breeze and the blessed joy of an unrepeatable gift. Thank you for the beauty and promise of this day; for the blessings of family and friends and the souls we do not know, but whose life upholds your Creation. I give thanks for hands that hold mine when I am hurting, that hold up my body when I am weary, and soothe my spirit when I need solace. I give thanks for a day I did not create, and the hope that lies in every moment of its trial and triumph. I give thanks to You, O God, for giving us Love that we might give love back to the world, and from the gift of this day build a greater life for all souls.