April 12, 2023
“Some Days It’d be So Easy to Get Really Down:” A Prayer
O Lord, some days it’d be so easy to get really down, despondent,
despair,
because of
what has happened,
what has not happened,
what always happens;
another
school shooting,
another
assault,
another
slaughter;
children,
parents,
spouses,
grief unimaginable,
sorrow unutterable,
anger unquenchable,
cries joining with the cries
of so many set to crying before them, and
once again,
what always done
done,
nothing
done,
politics
more important than
protecting children,
primaries
more important than
prescribing safeguards,
power
more important than
preventing death;
and so,
some days
it’d be so easy to
get down about, become despondent over, despair because of,
this nation of ours.
But Lord, there’s more, more nothing, nothing happening, being done,
making it easy some days
to lose hope;
treatment healing yet harming,
medications helping yet hurting,
doctors clear about nothing being clear;
and so,
nothing happening,
no treatments,
nothing but more nothing,
and the temptation is
to say forget it, I’ll
take my chances,
take whatever comes,
take the trip to the beach
take take-out to the park,
take drives to here and there,
going anywhere, rather than
going nowhere except
going to doctors’ offices,
going in circles,
going nuts;
and
there’s more still, more nothing, nothing but
waiting,
waiting for the next scan,
waiting for another blood test,
waiting for results that will tell us
what we already know,
which is next to
nothing,
so
waiting for the other shoe to drop,
waiting to go to the beach,
waiting to plan, enjoy, live.
O Lord, I’m tired, tired of it all, tired of nothing but more nothing; and
angry,
frustrated,
ready to say enough is enough;
but can’t,
because,
Number One,
you won’t let me,
you won’t permit me,
you won’t allow me even
one little pity party; and
because,
Number Two,
I’m a
congenital believer,
congenital truster,
congenital hoper, it’s
the way you made me,
the way I am,
the way I’ve always been; and
because
Number Three,
never been able to
give up,
give up on anything,
give up on anyone, and I
blame you,
blame your mercy,
blame your love that has
never turned away from me,
never given up on me,
never let go of me;
and so,
how can I
turn away, give up, let go, even though
it would be so easy to do
some days.
And that is
my prayer
for all of us who get
tired of it all,
fed up with it all,
angry at it all:
that you would put within us,
a belief,
a trust,
a hope,
that will not allow us to
accept nothing being done,
turn away from the horror,
give up on our nation, others, ourselves,
no matter how sick
our culture is,
those we love are,
we ourselves are; and
put within us
the courage to
do something other than nothing.
demand than something finally be done to
keep the children safe,
decide to throw the bums out unless they
stop assaulting one another and get off their bums and
start working together to
stop the assaults on the innocent; and
put within us
the will
to keep
living,
loving,
looking
for what
easters up out of the darkness day after day to grace us with
hope unfailing.
And we continue to pray, O Lord, for the families of the
children and adults slaughtered in the
assault on the school in Nashville who
suffer a sorrow inconsolable, and we pray for
the families of those who were killed in the mass shooing in Louisville, and
for all who are grieving, who are battling disease, who are dying, and
the hungry, the homeless, the refugees of the world, and for
the people of the Ukraine and other war-torn places.
Be with them, heal them, lift them in hope!
O Lord, keep doing what you always do on those days on which
it’d be so easy to get really down, and that is
give me a good swift kick where I
need a good swift kick to get me
going again,
enjoying again,
believing again
that you, who once brought forth
your good creation out of
nothing,
will continue to bring out of
nothing
something
good and beautiful and eternal.
Amen.