July 10, 2006

In my prayer journal, I collect favorite prayers that I run across.  Here is one that I use frequently here in the Northwest, USA.  It is by Robert Louis Stevenson (after his death, his wife published a number of prayers from his journal)…

“We thank thee, Lord, for the glory of the late days and the excellent face of thy sun!  We thank thee for good news received.  We thank thee for the pleasures we have enjoyed and for those we have been able to confer.  And now, when clouds gather and the rain impends over the forest and our house, permit us not to be cast down; let us not lose the savour of past mercies and past pleasures; but, like the voice of a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memory survive in the hour of darkness.  If there be in front of us any painful duty, strengthen us with the grace of courage; if any act of mercy, teach us tenderness and patience.  Amen.”

 

WHAT IS A FAVORITE PRAYER OF YOURS??

Dusty violin

leans against the dry, cracked pine

of a windowsill.

 

Outside, a field;

grasses yellow and heavy

brush the roughness

of a small, darkened cross.

 

Sunlight

rolls down from distant hills,

stretching long shadows behind,

pushing through streaked glass,

smears itself

on the unkempt oak floor.

 

Bowed cane,

reaching up against the arm

of an unvarnished chair,

held limply

in his withered hand.