Overwhelmed? Keep Praying!
Much is afoot in our world these days. Due to the ease and rapidity of electronic communication we know about happenings almost instantly. We become participants or at least observers in our national and global community. As people of feeling and of spiritual depth, we care. We are concerned for people who are experiencing hardship, people who are suffering. We care about those here on the Texas Gulf Coast and Florida who are rebuilding their homes and lives, our fellows in our country who are concerned about their welcome and safety, our fellows in Puerto Rico wondering how they will go forward, and our fellows who lost their lives so violently this week in Las Vegas and their families. Much is afoot in our world these days. It’s easy to get swamped–to shut down emotionally. We may struggle to find deeper footing. We wonder what is ours to do to discover and express God’s Presence. I share with you a gift that helped me gain perspective this week. It is an uplifted vision expressed by Helen Keller, certainly a person who knew what she was talking about. “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” There is so much valor in this world, so much kindness, so much compassion, so much life. Noticing it doesn’t erase suffering, rather it provides the energy and perspective to move through it, to address the wounds and create anew. Paying attention to the generous abundance of life keeps us moving–gets us out of trauma and stuckness. It moves us into expansion, into fulfillment of goodness. Prayer is simply paying attention to the principle of Life that underlies every person and every experience. Keep noticing the robust presence of life, especially seeing it in those who are struggling. Notice how well they are doing, how sincerely they reach out, how courageously they keep going. It makes a difference and it matters–to you, to your family, to your community, to your church, and to all those who right now can’t look up very far. Overwhelmed? Keep praying!
In the Love and Light of the Christ,
Rev. Anna
