Sometimes It Just Seems To Be Too Much…
As I was spending some time praying this morning, I was, as many of you were, thinking about the events that happened on this day 9 years ago. Images were easily retrieved replaying the live news feeds of chaos in New York as two planes were evilly commandeered to become statements of hate when they were forced into the two towers.
Lives were taken…anguish created…questions reverberated…
I prayed today over those who are gone, but mostly for those who remain, and that I would live in such a way that my life might, in some small way, replenish slivers in the vortex of loss, disillusionment, and pain that exists, at least for those I encounter along the way.
Sometimes it just seems to be too much…sometimes the awareness of humanities wickedness or her apathy just seems to be too much…sometimes it just seems as if we have dug to deep a whole for ourselves and will never get out…
This is when we need to realize that we have been graced by God to live an incarnational life. A life where we don't simply "do religious or good things", but a life that becomes a portal to allow God's goodness to flow through…there is a big difference.
Today is a day to choose to love and not to hate, to be honest with God, and to be honest with ourselves.
I read and ruminated on the following prayer today, and it spoke to where my heart had parked on this day of remembrance for 9-11. Pray through it and note the transition to be the answer of what we pray for..
_________________________
Sometimes, Lord,
it just seems to be too
much:
too
much violence, too much fear;
too
much of demands and problems;
too
much of broken dreams and broken lives;
too
much of wars and slums and dying;
too
much of greed and squishy fatness
and
the sounds of people
devouring
each other
and
the earth;
too
much of stale routines and quarrels,
unpaid
bills and dead ends;
too
much of words lobbed in to explode
and
leaving shredded hearts and lacerated souls;
too
much of turned-away backs and yellow silence,
red
rage and the bitter taste of ashes in my mouth.
Sometimes the very air seems
scorched
by
threats and rejection and decay
until
there is nothing
but
to inhale pain and exhale confusion.
Too much of darkness, Lord,
too
much of cruelty
and
selfishness
and
indifference…
Too much, Lord
too
much,
too
bloody,
bruising,
brain-washing
much.
Or is it too little,
too
little of compassion,
too little of courage,
of
daring,
of
persistence,
of
sacrifice;
Too little of music
and
laughter
and
celebration?
O God,
make of me some nourishment
for
these starved times,
some food for my brothers
and sisters
who
are hungry for gladness and hope,
that, being bread for them,
I
may also be fed
and
be full.
~Amen
_____________________
Honesty with God leads to a transformation of your soul…when you change, your world changes and you change your world, bit by bit, moment by moment.
This prayer was penned by Ted Loder in one of my favorite books of prayer called "Gorilla's of Grace" If your looking for some great prayers of the heart check it out.
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May the memories of this day in history cause us all to "Remember, Repent, and Return to God" because when we try to run this world separated from the God who made it, we becomes creators of loss instead of recipients of life.
Monty