Tag Archives: anxiety

A prayer when we are not OK

Gracious God,
help us remember that it is OK not to be OK.
We grieve.
We worry.
We fear.
Help us remember that it is OK not to be OK.
Frustration,
anxiety,
disquiet
swirl within us.
Help us remember that it is OK not to be OK.
Loneliness,
restlessness,
unease
fill our days.
Help us remember that it is OK not to be OK.
We wonder.
We doubt.
We dread.
Help us remember that it is OK not to be OK.
And help us remember you love us
you love us just as we are.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

7 April 2020
The Rev. W. Mark Koenig
with thanks to the Rev. Yena K. Hwang
who used the image “It is OK not to be OK”
at the 2018 Montreat Youth Conference

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Filed under Current Events, First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone, Prayer

The herder

Ideas swirl through his mind,
thoughts career,
snippets of conversations,
fragments of emails,
shadows of intentions,
vaguely misremembered promises,
each representing
a task,
a responsibility,
something to do.

As though propelled by
some force unseen
they crash, collide,
then fly away to disappear
leaving chaos in their wake,
increasing anxiety,
provoking paralysis.

He struggles to slow their frenzy
that he might pluck them
one by one from the maelström to
name them,
ponder them,
weigh them,
value them,
in order that he might strip them
of their power to intimidate
and herd them into
some coherent, prioritized order
upon which he will act.

21 August 2012
DL 1817
ATL – DEN

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Filed under Poem, Travel

Sometimes we laugh

Sometimes we laugh
because we are happy,
our laughter rings with joy.

Sometimes we laugh
because we are nervous,
our laughter cuts the edge.

Sometimes we laugh
because we are frightened,
our laughter masks our fears.

Sometimes we laugh
because we are grieving
our laughter hides our tears.

Sometimes we laugh.

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