Thoughts from the Pastor...

by Pastor Jeffrey M. Halenza

Summer is here and so I thought this prayer I came across might be appropriate.

                                             Let Me Live Gracefully

             Thank you, Lord,
             for this season
                  of sun and slow motion,
                         of games and porch sitting,
                               of picnics and light green fireflies
                                      on heavy purple evenings;
             and praise for slight breezes.
            It’s good, God,
            as the first long days of your creation.

            Let this season be for me
                    a time of gathering together the pieces
                          into which my busyness has broken me.
           O God, enable me now
                   to grow wise through reflection,
                          peaceful through the song of the cricket,
                                  recreated through the laughter of play.

            Most of all, Lord,
            let me live easily and gracefully for a spell,
                   so that I may see other souls deeply,
                          share in a silence unhurried,
                                 listen to the sound of sunlight and shadows,
                                       explore barefoot the land of forgotten dreams and shy hopes,
                                              and find the right words to tell another who I am.

May each of us live a little more easily and gracefully during this summer season and and be recreated through the  laughter of play, unhurried time, sun and slow motion.

                                                                                                                                                            God be with you,
                                                                                                                                                                      Jeff