Praise be to you, O Lord, for life
    and for my intense desire to live;
praise be to you for the mystery of love
    and for my intense desire to be a lover;
praise be to you for this day
    and another chance to live and love.

Thank you, Lord,
    for friends who stake their claim in my heart,
    for enemies who disturb my soul and bump my ego,
    for tuba players,
        and story tellers,
            and trapeze troupes.
Thank you, Lord,
    for singers of songs,
    for teachers of songs,
        who help me sing along the way,
    ...and for listeners.
thank you, Lord,
    for those who attempt beauty
        rather than curse ugliness,
    for those who take stands
        rather than take polls,
    for those who risk being right
        rather than pandering to be liked,
    for those who do something
        rather than talking about everything.

Lord, grant me grace, then,
and a portion of your spirit
that I may so live
    as to give others cause
        to be thankful for me,
thankful because I have not forgotten
    how to hope
        how to laugh
            how to say, "I'm sorry,"
    how to forgive,
        how to bind up wounds,
            how to dream,
    how to cry,
        how to pray,
    how to love when it is hard,
        and how to dare when it is dangerous.
Undamn me, Lord,
that praise may flow more easily from me
    than wants,
thanks more readily
    than complaints.
Praise be to you, Lord, for life;
praise be to you for another chance to live.

--From Guerrillas of Grace

A prayer for those I love, and for myself. May the Peace of Christ be with you this day.
In the name of the Father, gracious
    the Son, loving
        the Spirit, convicting.

Precious three-in-one.

Amen.

Eternal Friend,
grant me an ease
to breathe deeply of this moment, 
              this light,
                     this miracle of now.
Beneath the din and fury
      of great movements
            and harsh news
                   and urgent crises,
make me attentive still
     to good news,
           to small occasions,
                and the grace of what is possible
                     for me to be,
                           to do,
                                 to give,
                                        to receive,
that I may miss neither my neighbor's gift
           nor my enemy's need.

                                    --From Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle by Ted Loder

This is my newest discovery, a book of prayers that bring me to my knees by their beauty and their understanding. 

I want to say things like this. I want to write things that make others understand God, themselves and the world better. 

I tried doing that last night, though I'm not sure if I succeeded. I'm working on it again today, but writing real things about real life is hard. Pain, mistakes, God, hope, darkness...good things to share but hard sometimes to unearth and put on paper. 

Sometimes saying other people's prayers helps.

Amen.