Prayer
April 7, 2008 · No Comments

Say a prayer before you read this poem.

Say a prayer before you breathe a breath.
That is all you have to do. Do it all the time when ever you have a free moment. Start with a loving prayer for yourself. Love for ‘yourself’ is the first love. This is the first prayer. Without loving yourself and planting the prayer in your own heart to dissolve throughout your form you cannot send out a prayer to any one or any thing.

Start where you are! Prayer is one of the best gifts and it has no cost. A prayer we give is priceless!
Prayer is great to give and wonderful to receive. In your core, you know that the reward is unknowable. If you are not sure what to pray for, start with a prayer for your heart. Pray for yourself! Then and only then can you know the true feeling of prayer and are ready to send your loving thoughts out to others.

Now, take a moment to think of world tragedies. There are many terrible things happening by the hand of humans on other humans. At one time, I had a map of the world with different colors of round ball pushpins for every conflict on the globe! There is power in positive thinking directed in prayer. Please pray for the speedy recovery of the six
students from Mercaz Harav high school in Jerusalem who are still in the hospital:
Naftali ben Gila,
Yonatan ben Avital,
Shimon ben Tirzah,
Nadav Eliyahu ben Hadassah,
Reuven ben Naomi,
Elchanan ben Zahava

Pray for the assailants and the assailed, in this conflict and all the conflicts worldwide. Pray that that those in political power who consider water boarding permissible to STOP TORTURE! Think of the taxi driver who after being tortured mysteriously died in an American built and maintained Prison in the country currently supposedly ‘Liberated’ and on the road to democracy. Whose democracy are we talking about now? How have a few religious fanatics on several sides drawn lines in the sand! How did they get into your life savings? This country is being turned into dust. Houses and roads bombed to ruble by well-armed global community at the cost of the whole world’s economy. It is a case of brother killing brother. I cannot imagine wolves in the wild behaving this way for the sport. Is this the sport of ‘big boys with big toys’ who belong to the pack of the ‘haves and have mores’ over all the rest of the human pack?

Hold all your friends and family in the light of your prayer for their health and happiness. Think of all the people for whom you have no happy feelings. Imagine them in your heart with a full rainbow of loving light flooding out to them. Go mentally into all the local hospitals and lift their fear and suffering and send it to that place where it can be transformed. Wherever you imagine the place, make it a palace of love. Love one another as you love yourself. This is the real gold. In fact it is named the golden rule!

Since we are all suffering in some way, it is not hard to focus loving kindness on suffering. Remember our shared humanity. It is our shared use of a body, made of sinews and slush, which gives our minds an inkling of the possible meaning of Unity, built on empathy. To pray for our selves and others creates a balance of goodness. This goodness serves to navigate movement on the map of our lives. Intersections cross and connections are made with other people as we dance in the here and now. Prayer is the dance music sounding on the complex of multileveled spider like webs where we place our dancing toes. Solid changing as we move to the music of living together.

Praying is a way of showing you believe that Goodwill is the answer.

Here is the prayer sent to me today from a friend in Florida to honor the coming demonstrations for human rights. People are using the Olympic Torch event as a catalyst to give voice on long held thoughts and feelings. The blossoming of opinions arises from the seed planted by the Olympic committee in choosing China for the games.

May Peace Prevail! May the Chinese not loose political goodwill. Many say, ‘China, open up,’ as you proceed with political prowess within this great honor conferred by the Olympic committee. May the Chinese, work in a concert as a member of the world community, as they conduct the world’s best athletes with wisdom.

The Prayer:

May, just for today, there be peace within.
May you trust Goodwill and Grace in the infinite plan, that you are exactly where you are meant to be in time and space.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are
born from your perfect point of clarity with faith in the empty room we call Life.
May you use the gifts that you have received, and
pass on the great gift: love.
Pass the Love you create, which has been given to you, unconditionally. Give to this human family and all the creatures on this globe and out into space farther than you can see.
May you be content knowing you are a child of Goodwill.
Let this presence settle into your bones. Allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, and praise and love one another.
Love is here for each one of us.

Love and Breathe, in and out.