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Prayer for Helping Others
Gifted
Gifted Others praise You with voices raised in song.Still others paint awe-inspiringcanvases or raise buildings into the sky.Let me praise You with the talentsYou have given me.I can reach out a handto steady my elderly neighbor,or raise my heart in prayerfor a sorrowing friend.I can stir a pot bubbling on the stoveas I wait for my hungry...
Unending Love
Unending Love Her hands can't thread a needle,reading now, a past pleasure.Walking has become a challenge,forgetting what she had to say.Failing eyesight, hands that tremble,limbs that won't cooperate,memories playing hide and seek.Will You prepare me,this child who has now
Three-Legged Stool
Three-Legged Stool I feel You whenpeople do good deeds for the needy. I see You whensociety opens a checkbook to serve others. I hear You whencitizens speak out for justice.
Spinning Yarn
Spinning Yarn One ball of stringhas countless possibilities:lace, crochet, tatting,macramé, knitting, weaves.Or simple, just-for-fun-things:braiding, pom-pom chicks,string art snowflakes, rag-doll wigs.From to coils of rope,to finger-lace hair-braids,misanga mementos, yarn doll souvenirs,dream catcher keepsakes, friendship bracelets.Useful, functional, and...
Stuck in My Head
Stuck in My Head
The Communion of Community
The Communion of Community We work, live and play side by side,yet we don’t see each other.We live in the same houses,the same towns, but we pass by as strangers.Lift us out of the funk of ourselvesinto the ability to share, to dine,to build a life of love and laughter.
TisBest
TisBest The greatest giftsdon’t fit in a box.They slip into the heartwithout ribbons or bows,and make a home there.Beginning small,They are larger than any of us,more powerful;they move mountains,fueled by what is best in us.
Hearth and Home
Hearth and Home Please make me a better stewardof all those entrusted to my care.Remind me that tending to those I loveis a high honor.Help me to do my part even when I feel wrung out like the laundry on the line,worn out like an old weathered throw rug,left behind like...
Poultice for the Soul
Poultice for the Soul Nobody reads the newspaperthe next day because,well it’s old news.Please help me find a wayto put these things behind me...yesterday’s ways,old habits,antique relationships,limited mind-set.Clear the decks for meto make way forthe bounty,the beauty,the...
Revolution
We rejoice with our brothers and sisters in Egypt. Let’s continue to keep all those who are oppressed and threatened everywhere, in our prayers and in our hearts. Revolution Wedding bells. Plans. Happiness.RevolutionThank You for prayers answered,and lives changed;as a nation celebrates freedom today.Thank You for guiding bold new leaders
Soul of Philanthropy
Soul of Philanthropy You have placed within me, my soul.It gives form to my thoughts creatingmy innermost feelingsand driving my actions.I am possessed with goodness and remarkable power.Committed to: doing deeds...
Glass Works
Glass Works At the corner of our dining room stood a Murano glass lamp-stand. Its intricate glass flowers and leaves were dull and opaque with dust, and its brass base had long lost its lustre. My excuse was that the smell of metal polish gets up my nose and gives me a migraine. It had been a wedding gift to my parents in the early 1950's; one of those intricate, fragile jigsaw...
Bang-Bang Praise
Bang-Bang Praise The term “drive-by” often brings up mental images of graffiti colored brick walls, bass thumping low riders and the panic filled screams of those dodging indiscriminate bullets. In Sacramento, they're trying to change that. How? Drive-by prayer. Stay...
Making Room
Making Room The sign on the wall simply reads: Be Open. I pray I can be open to change,open to hope, open to love. I want to be open to joy, and open to unexpected grace. I will be open to gifts You bless me with, whether I know it or not. I know I can do what I ask of myself— to be open to the life I need.
The Gift
The Gift Let me give not only of my resources,but also of my spirit.May the kernel light of goodwill within mebe made greater with the giving,radiating outward,passing from fingertip to fingertip,each kindness kindling another. May every hand learn the warmth of fellowshipto receive in need and to give in prosperity--passing the flame ever...
Spread the Light this Advent Season
Spread the Light this Advent Season I'm writing this on Monday. Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Advent, it is the Christian celebration in preparation for the Advent of the King, the coming of Christ on Christmas day. Traditionally, it is a time of penitence, preparing yourself to be worthy of such a gift. It is also a...
It’s Not the Thought that Counts
It’s Not the Thought that Counts It’s the thought that counts. Add that to the list of propaganda and lies you grew up with. Actually, it’s not the thought that counts. It’s what you do that counts. Since last Wednesday, I’ve been thinking about Irwin. His beloved wife Barbara passed away last week after fighting a losing battle with cancer. Barb and Irwin are part of my
Immeasurable Grace
Immeasurable Grace Stopped at a corner in my carsaw a man holding a sign.It read, I'm hungry.You say, "Feed him"Walked by a womansleeping on a cardboard box.She needed warmth.You say, "Cover her" Crossed...
Timbali Crafts
Timbali Crafts The book of James instructs us “to look after widows and orphans in their distress.” In Swaziland, that’s a big, big job. With a population of 1.2 million, this landlocked African country has the highest AIDS rate in the world at 39%;...
Gazing Outward
Gazing Outward Whether we are reachingfor the last sale itemor helping someone in need,it is far too easyto get wrapped up in ourselves.We fail to see the other person,complete with their own needs,their own wants,their own fears.Please help me to turn my gazeto You so that I can look outward and upwardtoward something bigger than...
How to Eliminate Bad Moods
How to Eliminate Bad Moods My college roommate was a complete bitch. I’m grateful for her rotten personality, sarcasm and mean spirit. Michelle was all the motivation I needed to spend a lifetime in a good mood. She scared the crabbiness right out of me; I’m rarely moody anymore. I was getting ready for the long holiday weekend, and I was in a terrific mood. I got...
Silent Tears
Silent Tears I cannot heal woundsthat are cleverly concealed.I cannot answer questionsdisguised behind painful smiles.I ask You for the gift of comforting words.Help me to demonstrate love,give hope and provide comfortin Your children's dark times.
Reaching Up and Out
Reaching Up and Out When I feel that I cannot truly help, please help me reach up to You. Lend me Your strength so that I can see, that although I cannot fix the problem itself, there are a hundred other things that I can do to bring comfort and...
After the Wreckage
After the Wreckage I am far away todayremoved from devastationdistanced from despair.Across the world they sufferand I stare at this computerthinking of hopelessness. My needs are their wants.My wants make me blushwith shame. May the humility that life bringsshow me again,...
Pulse of the Generations
Pulse of the Generations We raise our faces to You.You who has sustainedcountless generations;with the steadiness of Your love,with the strength of Your wisdom.You are the blood that unites us.You are the pulse that revives us.You are where we begin,where we end,where we are. I...
The Forgotten
The Forgotten They sitin managed care facilities,life at an ebb.Sometimes forgotten,like books full of photosand lively text that nobody reads.
Shimon Schocken on Tolerance and Hope
Shimon Schocken on Tolerance and Hope There’s something about riding a bicycle that brings to mind total freedom. One of my earliest memories is; when my Dad took the training wheels off my first two-wheeler. I remember riding around the block, all by myself. Maybe the memory is really in my imagination, but I still get a thrill when I t...
Stuck in My Head
Stuck in My Head
Prism
Prism Refractions of light from a prism:a heterogeneous, multi-faceted rainbow,splitting the spectrum.Transparency separating the lightinto its component elements.It's not the brightest, fastest, or keenest raythat makes the enchantment happen,but it strikes the right place at the right time.Help me be a prism to my companions;to help them discern what is...
Giving Back
Giving Back As You've blessed me,help me be a blessing to others.Show me what I can bringto the table so someone elsecan have a better quality of life.Help me to share what I have,even if it's just my time, so that I knowthere's a child who can sleepin a warm bed tonight,or a senior who will have a good meal,at least for today.
