Prayer
for a New Year
“…May
the nourishment of the earth be yours.
May
the clarity of the light be yours.
May
the fluency of the ocean be yours
May
the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And
so, may a slow
wind
work these words
of
love around you,
an
invisible cloak,
to
mind your life.”
John
O’Donohue (from Bennacht: A Blessing for the New Year)
I woke
this morning with a prayer running through my mind and heart for this new year.
Setting aside all the political furor and the pandemic fear and sadness, I find
myself praying for a cleansing wind, a fresh opportunity to look into each
other’s eyes and recognize kindred spirits all around; brother, sister, friend,
child. I pray for a calming of tensions, for families and communities to heal
from all the terrible wounds we have inflicted upon one another these last four
years. I pray for inner peace for each of us, and for Donald Trump as he
leaves office, and for Joe Biden as he enters. If we are ever to emerge from this
viral pandemic, we must seek peace. So far, only the virus is victorious.
On this
first Monday of the new year, I pray for the world and especially for America. I
appreciate the fact that four years of conflict and chaos have laid bare our
unresolved issues. We have so much work to do to regain our footing and restore
our faith in democracy and in our Constitutional government, that we cannot
afford to waste another moment fighting each other. I pray that we can pull
together for the good of all—especially for the good of future generations. All
of us—the whole world—need a time of surrender, a moratorium on aggression, an
opportunity to reflect on how to move forward in peace to ensure a prosperous
future for each of us.
As in
John O’Donohue’s prayer, I hope that these words weave a cloak of love around
you and give you peace. With our feet now firmly planted in the new year, let us
march into it with confidence, hand-in-hand, and on solid ground.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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