Sunday Prayers, February 21st, 2021
Dear God,
Help me to stop feeling like everything is a test. A test of my compassion. A test of my fortitude. A test of my faith. Help me remember that I am not being graded. I am being guided. Guided to see that maybe I have a greater capacity to be ok when everything is horrible than I thought I did, but that it is not limitless, and it does not need to be.
Help us manage our compassion fatigue and the judgement we feel toward ourselves for having it. If you did not create our psyches to be able to withstand and respond to every tragedy and hardship happening to human beings right now, then nudge us to respond when it is our turn, and be gentle with ourselves when it’s not.
Help us know when our work is done. Help us rest when we should. Help us reach out to serve when we can. Help us remember to check on our strong friends. Help us be kinder toward those who can’t do as much as we can. Help us do the next right thing. And Lord, help us not forget the ice cream when we go to the grocery store next.
Amen.
Texans needs plumbing supplies!
If it’s your turn to help and you’d like to do something tangible for folks in Texas - AND you’d like to support a Black-owned business while doing it - my friend Rozella White has posted the need for folks to send PLUMING SUPPLIES to Texas.
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As a Texan, I thank you, Nadia, for keeping us in your thoughts. Help us to be more conscious that our fellow humans suffer often in silence, and help us to know that not every story is easily told.
Henri Nouwen spoke of shifting our perspective on life's tests and interruptions, seeing them as challenging our inner response and thereby fostering growth and molding the person we are constantly becoming. I like that "bigger picture" idea.