In our series on prayer, I figured it might make just a tiny bit of sense to actually post a prayer 🙂
Below is a beautiful prayer written by Ted Loder, his ability to draw on the reality of lifes messiness through linguistic awesomness is exactly what I needed this morning. Enjoy…
How shall I pray?
Are tears prayers, Lord? Are screams prayers, or groans, or signs, or curses? Can trembling hands be lifted to you, or clenched fists, or the cold sweat that trickles down my back, or the cramps that knot my stomach?
Will you accept my prayers, Lord, my real prayers, rooted in the much and mud of and rock of my life, and not just my pretty, cut-flower, gracefully arranged bouquet of words?
Will you accept me, Lord, as I really am, messed up mixture of flurry and grime? Lord Help me!
Help me to be done with self-condemnation and self-pity, and accept myself. Help me to accept you as you are, Lord: mysterious, hidden, strange, unknowable; and yet to trust that your madness is wiser than mine, self-seeking sanities, and that nothing you’ve ever done has really been possible, so I may dare to be a little mad, too.
How shall I pray?
Amen.