Holiday Prayer

Dear God,

In this holiday season and special time of celebration, we are so thankful for your grace that watches over our lives, over our hopes and fears, and over our dreams and deepest desires.

As I look back over the year much has happen, much that saddens me, much which angers me, and much that I can not change.

I wonder about the poor, the destitute, and the homeless.

As I look back over the year, I wonder what went so horribly wrong with life.

I wonder about those filled with depression and heart aches.

As I look back over the year, I try to make sense out of ignorance, hatred, and deceit.

I wonder about those whose lives have been destroyed by the flames of racism, sexism, and war.

As I look back over the year, I remember a difficult and unplanned life test.

I wonder how the victims of Katrina and the Huntington Floods are fairing.

As I look back over the year, I remember a few conversations with you that did not go so well.

I really expected you to end the violence in our communities, to prevent the deaths of so many of our young men caught in thug culture and bridge the religious divide.

As I look back over the year, I yearn to be younger, smarter, richer and more successful.

I wonder about the sisters suffering in silence with aids.

As I look back over the year, I recall a better time and quieter space.

I wonder about peace, prosperity, and promise for all God’s creation.

As I look back over the year, I admire the place within me that keeps hope alive.
As I look back over the year, I surrender to the unwavering faith nestled deeply within my heart.

As I look back over the year, I praised the parts of me that did not give in to the difficulty or to uncertainty.

As I look back over the year, I am reminded that my legs worked, my mind soared, and my lungs took in the breath of God.

As I look back over the year, I honor my family, friends, and those who would call themselves my enemies for their roles as teachers, mentors and guides.

As I look back over the year, I see the growth and progress that propels me forward and upward. March on … great warrior spirit.

The year in review brings contrast, contentment, and choice.

It brings awareness that I always have the option to choose again, to understand the differences, to appreciate the similarities, and to ravish life in all its many splendid and amazing manifestations.

God, help me to be wiser, more loving, more accepting of the unpredictable ways you bend, twist and ultimately, mold us into divinely expressed humans.

God, prepare me for even bigger and greater things as we leave the old year and move into the unknown light of a new dawn.

God help us to be better citizens of the world: to show more compassion, to listen with a tender ear and to act with a loving spirit.

Amen