Grant me patience, God,
when my computer
updates and restarts.
Grant me patience, God,
right now!!
Remind me, God,
that like a computer,
I sometimes need to update,
to expand my thinking,
and increase my knowledge
to help me function more effectively.
Remind me, God,
that like a computer,
sometimes I need to turn off,
to rest, to renew,
and to love myself that I might
love you,
love your beloved children,
and love your wondrous creation
more faithfully.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen.
Filed under Prayer, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
When disappointment comes, God,
and disappointment will,
may we find
strength to grieve,
patience to sit with the moment,
imagination to seek alternatives,
and courage, hope, faith, and love
to give them a try.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
God of infinite patience,
God of unquenchable grace,
help my impatience,
touch my ungraciousness,
When I become frustrated with,
or angered by,
or annoyed at,
another person,
remind me that person
is your beloved child,
made in your image.
Strengthen my patience;
renew my grace,
that I might find ways,
beyond what I perceive as my capacities,
to act in kindness and
to demonstrate love
that we might walk together humbly with you
and work for justice.
I pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Filed under Prayer
God of the ages,
grant us patience, courage, and grace;
grant us faith, hope, and love;
grant us all we need
for the living of our days
in the age of Covid-19.
Amen.
When the guy beside me in the long slow-moving security line, that followed the long slow-moving check-in line, loudly proclaimed the situation as “ungodly,” all my anger, frustration, and resentment melted in an instant.
Ungodly?
You want ungodly?
Ungodly is:
Bombs falling on the Nuba mountains
A wall surrounding Bethlehem
Gaza besieged
Medical personnel killed in Pakistan
Presents under Christmas trees never to be opened because the children for whom they were intended died in a hail of bullets
Uncivil war ripping Pakistan
Rape in North Kivu and India and New York
Abuse in homes, mental institutions, prisons
Bodies and spirits tortured
Young people committing suicide because of what others think about theirs sexual orientation
Women and men and children trafficked for sex or labor or other reason
Economic systems that make a few wealthy beyond imagination and impoverish others
Hunger – real hunger
These are some ungodly things.
Ungodly abounds on this small blue, green planet.
But having to stand in a line – a confusing, inconvenient line – a line that leads to planes that take us where we want, where we have – to be – having to stand in line is:
a pain in our privileged asses and far from ungodly.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Current Events, Travel
One day,
one hour,
one moment
at a time;
we make
our way
through life:
each of us,
all of us.
No exceptions.
Some of us
simply know
that reality
more keenly.
18 July 2012
DL 1885
LGA – MCO
Step by step
One day at a time
I know the platitudes.
I have said them.
I have tried to live them.
Again and again and again
I have tried.
Several times
I have made a step or two
and stopped.
Several times
I have succeed for a day or so
and then fallen short.
The words sound almost hollow.
Yet they contain great truth,
and so today I note:
one.
A start.
Again.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Poem
I wait.
I wonder.
I wonder what I should wonder.
August 26, 2011
Shire on the Hudson
Filed under Poem
Along the Graybeard Trail 