I pray for my dad who is preparing to transition this week from being in patient on an oncology unit in a hospital to being at home under hospice care.
I pray for my dad and my mom who grieve the death of their dog this past Friday.
I pray with thanksgiving for my spouse, my sister and my sister's boyfriend who worked together with me on Friday to bury the dog in my parents' backyard.
I pray for my sister and I who are navigating being adults and supporting our parents in this transition to hospice - while also feeling 4 years old again and wanting to just throw a temper tantrum that we're sad and overwhelmed by all the grief in our lives right now.
Dear precious Child of the Living God of all our Hope and Peace... prayers are fervently being sent up and out to u and your dear family. He has u and your parents in His arms and will be forever faithful to be with u and sustain u each one in the only way that He can. I have been in Hospice with my precious earthly father in February 2015 & my sweet father-in-law in December 2015 and now with my brother as he transitions to be with His Heavenly Father this month. The Lord sees u and hears your prayer sweet sister in Christ. 🙏💝🛐☝️⭐️
Loretta, you are in my prayers too. What a gift you've given me in connecting with the same journey I'm walking now, and that you are walking with your brother. I've long viewed the role of companion to those hospice like serving as a midwife to the next life. That image has taken on such poignancy in this advent season.
Oh my. I have been watching for these Sunday prayers since sunrise. As I waited - i realized how much Nadia’s prayers and the prayers of others have sustained me through social distancing which means isolation for the single. And then I heard the chime alerting me to the new email. Joy!
It has been a rough week with periods of despair and yet grace came through. Friends calling at the right time, the 2011 movie contagion which dramatized how much worse it could have been, matthew mcconaughey’s book greenlights which is very different from my normal reads but full of thought provoking material that I finished reading in 24 hours. And today my spirit is lighter and more hope filled than the recent days.
Thanks be to God. Thanks be for all who come to this sacred (set-apart) place.
Nadia, this prayer helped me a lot today. This time of year is so hard when it feels so dark so early. Fifteen days and then it will start to turn . . . that feels more manageable.
I was just talking about this with my wife the other day. The longest night is yet to come, but the *very next day* brings just a bit more light than the day before. It won’t be obvious for awhile, but the light is on the way. We gotta hang in there & hang onto each other as best we can. And try to be ready for the light.
I can’t prove this beyond doubt. But I believe anyway, and that feels like faith. It feels good.
My words kind of fail me right now, but my longing heart resonates with the longing in your prayers, Nadia. Just realizing today I am about to burn out, again. I want to pray for the whole world but my own world is sucking the air out of my lungs. I can't drop the damn plates, but I must.
Dear God, please help me get help, for my partner and children's sake. And for my own. Thank you for this community and the lifesaving honesty in Nadias prayers. Kyrie Eleison.
Amen. I pray for all of us, especially children. For children abused by parents harsh angry words, for children suffering during this time of bleakness.
My hope is in you.
I feel stronger in community. Even if it is a virtual community. AMEN.
I thank you for these prayers for these are my children. I pray for Tossus Maximus‘s future diversional therapist to rush on in from a distant city and help him find his way to kindness outside of a system that gifts him to want to harm.
I pray for those isolated in various forms, may they feel a sense of peace and comfort.
Dear God, I’m scared today for the new lockdown that starts in California late tonight. I’m not sure what praying about it can accomplish, but why not. While I believe you’re there, you seem passive. In San Francisco there is no help for those people whose work is deemed unessential, and they need local leaders to be inspired. I ask you to help those who can’t have their businesses open for a single customer despite enormous safety precautions, who are much more essential than the liquor store around the corner that’s been open every day of this pandemic and can have many people inside at once. The people who make the city vibrant - the artists, musicians, small gym owners, tai chi instructors, yoga teachers, etc, have had their ability to work taken away and are on the verge of moving out of state. There appears to be no government ingenuity or concern when it comes to mental health, with people being told that for the next 4 weeks (maybe longer) nobody can meet someone from another household outdoors, even with a mask, whether 6, or even 15 feet, apart. I feel angry at local leaders for being overly restrictive rather than spending the time to devise creative plans that keep people safe without putting out the sparks of lights around the city that give it joy. While we all need to stay safe, joy, mental health, fitness and well-being aren’t non-essential. My prayer is that you inspire leaders into understanding this, and if you’re going to be passive, that you at least show us how to do it ourselves. Amen.
Praying for myself and others who face those long nights with anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health concerns. May the light come quickly. May we let others be candles in the darkness.
I pray for the health of my dear friend Tammy, suffering from arthritis. I pray the clinic accepts her insurance, and some relief will come. She's been the spirit of Christmas. I also pray my brother in law won't get Covid, after being exposed to a person who tested positive.
First, Amen. Second, yes, the few weeks immediately preceding the Winter Solstice can be HARD. For me part of what makes it hard is that I want to hunker down, get still and quiet, retreat into the depths of myself, and it feels like the whole world is demanding the opposite every time I go out my door-- lights! glitter! songs! parties! compulsory gift giving! This year almost feels easier because I'm broke and on unemployment, so I can't do a lot of Christmas shopping, and we all should be staying home anyway. Hallelujah! I can finally be exactly as much in concert with the actual season as I want, instinctually, to be.
Generally, I find attending to the natural, constant cycling of light and dark-- both energetically and metaphorically-- helps me feel more grounded and less bleak. Because, as you so beautifully say here, the Light always, always comes back around, with or without our faith, with or without our works. When I feel particularly lost and impotent in the face of the world's troubles or my own, it gives me comfort to remember that I can't control it all. The world does not revolve around me. It just revolves.
Hey Nadia, thank you for this. I’m visiting my boyfriends family in Denmark and the days are short here too. It’s sadly easy to forget about the obvious blessings of a gorgeous sunrise, or for me, getting to experience another continent in times such as these. So, thank you for the reminder. Definitely a good reason to stay connected with friends, positive messages, and also—to feel my feelings, then check myself if necessary. :)
Oh wow. I just now read the attached article about the church fire. That sounds like a devastating loss. I had no idea about the church’s history. Really powerful that the church was able to provide refuge for so many varied needs of people in the community. I hope those who have lost their home there will all find safe places spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, spatially, again.
I pray for my dad who is preparing to transition this week from being in patient on an oncology unit in a hospital to being at home under hospice care.
I pray for my dad and my mom who grieve the death of their dog this past Friday.
I pray with thanksgiving for my spouse, my sister and my sister's boyfriend who worked together with me on Friday to bury the dog in my parents' backyard.
I pray for my sister and I who are navigating being adults and supporting our parents in this transition to hospice - while also feeling 4 years old again and wanting to just throw a temper tantrum that we're sad and overwhelmed by all the grief in our lives right now.
Words fail...oh God have mercy
Dear precious Child of the Living God of all our Hope and Peace... prayers are fervently being sent up and out to u and your dear family. He has u and your parents in His arms and will be forever faithful to be with u and sustain u each one in the only way that He can. I have been in Hospice with my precious earthly father in February 2015 & my sweet father-in-law in December 2015 and now with my brother as he transitions to be with His Heavenly Father this month. The Lord sees u and hears your prayer sweet sister in Christ. 🙏💝🛐☝️⭐️
Loretta, you are in my prayers too. What a gift you've given me in connecting with the same journey I'm walking now, and that you are walking with your brother. I've long viewed the role of companion to those hospice like serving as a midwife to the next life. That image has taken on such poignancy in this advent season.
Oh my. I have been watching for these Sunday prayers since sunrise. As I waited - i realized how much Nadia’s prayers and the prayers of others have sustained me through social distancing which means isolation for the single. And then I heard the chime alerting me to the new email. Joy!
It has been a rough week with periods of despair and yet grace came through. Friends calling at the right time, the 2011 movie contagion which dramatized how much worse it could have been, matthew mcconaughey’s book greenlights which is very different from my normal reads but full of thought provoking material that I finished reading in 24 hours. And today my spirit is lighter and more hope filled than the recent days.
Thanks be to God. Thanks be for all who come to this sacred (set-apart) place.
Nadia, this prayer helped me a lot today. This time of year is so hard when it feels so dark so early. Fifteen days and then it will start to turn . . . that feels more manageable.
I was just talking about this with my wife the other day. The longest night is yet to come, but the *very next day* brings just a bit more light than the day before. It won’t be obvious for awhile, but the light is on the way. We gotta hang in there & hang onto each other as best we can. And try to be ready for the light.
I can’t prove this beyond doubt. But I believe anyway, and that feels like faith. It feels good.
My words kind of fail me right now, but my longing heart resonates with the longing in your prayers, Nadia. Just realizing today I am about to burn out, again. I want to pray for the whole world but my own world is sucking the air out of my lungs. I can't drop the damn plates, but I must.
Dear God, please help me get help, for my partner and children's sake. And for my own. Thank you for this community and the lifesaving honesty in Nadias prayers. Kyrie Eleison.
Lord have mercy. Amen.
I'm hoping my kids in Denver see this. Thanks, Nadia, for reminding us that in Advent, as in Dec. 2020, the darkness will be overcome with Light.
Thank you so much for this. Right on time. I am struggling.
Merci and blessings...❤️
Amen. I pray for all of us, especially children. For children abused by parents harsh angry words, for children suffering during this time of bleakness.
My hope is in you.
I feel stronger in community. Even if it is a virtual community. AMEN.
Thanks for virtual communities. I pray with Catherine. May mercy and strength find the suffering. Amen.
I thank you for these prayers for these are my children. I pray for Tossus Maximus‘s future diversional therapist to rush on in from a distant city and help him find his way to kindness outside of a system that gifts him to want to harm.
I pray for those isolated in various forms, may they feel a sense of peace and comfort.
I am grateful to have a “Happy Light” to help me through these (literal) dark days.
Dear God, I’m scared today for the new lockdown that starts in California late tonight. I’m not sure what praying about it can accomplish, but why not. While I believe you’re there, you seem passive. In San Francisco there is no help for those people whose work is deemed unessential, and they need local leaders to be inspired. I ask you to help those who can’t have their businesses open for a single customer despite enormous safety precautions, who are much more essential than the liquor store around the corner that’s been open every day of this pandemic and can have many people inside at once. The people who make the city vibrant - the artists, musicians, small gym owners, tai chi instructors, yoga teachers, etc, have had their ability to work taken away and are on the verge of moving out of state. There appears to be no government ingenuity or concern when it comes to mental health, with people being told that for the next 4 weeks (maybe longer) nobody can meet someone from another household outdoors, even with a mask, whether 6, or even 15 feet, apart. I feel angry at local leaders for being overly restrictive rather than spending the time to devise creative plans that keep people safe without putting out the sparks of lights around the city that give it joy. While we all need to stay safe, joy, mental health, fitness and well-being aren’t non-essential. My prayer is that you inspire leaders into understanding this, and if you’re going to be passive, that you at least show us how to do it ourselves. Amen.
I pray in this time of waiting that I learn to wait in anticipation and not frustration.
Praying for myself and others who face those long nights with anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health concerns. May the light come quickly. May we let others be candles in the darkness.
I pray for the health of my dear friend Tammy, suffering from arthritis. I pray the clinic accepts her insurance, and some relief will come. She's been the spirit of Christmas. I also pray my brother in law won't get Covid, after being exposed to a person who tested positive.
First, Amen. Second, yes, the few weeks immediately preceding the Winter Solstice can be HARD. For me part of what makes it hard is that I want to hunker down, get still and quiet, retreat into the depths of myself, and it feels like the whole world is demanding the opposite every time I go out my door-- lights! glitter! songs! parties! compulsory gift giving! This year almost feels easier because I'm broke and on unemployment, so I can't do a lot of Christmas shopping, and we all should be staying home anyway. Hallelujah! I can finally be exactly as much in concert with the actual season as I want, instinctually, to be.
Generally, I find attending to the natural, constant cycling of light and dark-- both energetically and metaphorically-- helps me feel more grounded and less bleak. Because, as you so beautifully say here, the Light always, always comes back around, with or without our faith, with or without our works. When I feel particularly lost and impotent in the face of the world's troubles or my own, it gives me comfort to remember that I can't control it all. The world does not revolve around me. It just revolves.
Hey Nadia, thank you for this. I’m visiting my boyfriends family in Denmark and the days are short here too. It’s sadly easy to forget about the obvious blessings of a gorgeous sunrise, or for me, getting to experience another continent in times such as these. So, thank you for the reminder. Definitely a good reason to stay connected with friends, positive messages, and also—to feel my feelings, then check myself if necessary. :)
Oh wow. I just now read the attached article about the church fire. That sounds like a devastating loss. I had no idea about the church’s history. Really powerful that the church was able to provide refuge for so many varied needs of people in the community. I hope those who have lost their home there will all find safe places spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, spatially, again.