O Lord, hear my prayer

To God, our Dad, Whose Home is in Heaven ...
we miss you.
We really pray that we will be together again as a family
as You planned in the beginning
until somehow that all got messed up.
And you know, Lord,
we still manage to mess things up today.
Relationships are hard!
And we fight
in families
and in marriage
and at work
But deep down, inside us, there is that wanting 
just to be loved and to love.
And You know, Dad God, You fill that need.
We long for you so ...
For peace ...
For happiness ...
not to be hurt ...
not to be hungry ...
not to be scared ...
not to be beaten ...
not to be mocked or bullied ...
not to feel pain ...
not to feel scared of dying.

And, Dad God, we pray that when everything gets sorted, that what you want for earth happens.
Which is, of course, peace and happiness for each and every one of us.
Life, and love, and peace, and a home, and enough for our needs - for each and every one of us, every single day and night.
Wow, what a wonderful thought.

In the meantime, Dad,
we battle here on earth.
We need food, and clothes, and doctors, and transport, and all sorts of things
and often we just simply don't have enough.
Please help us to get what we need.
And that we learn to share the goodness you have given us with each other.
Not to keep twenty five bags of flour for our one family, 
but to share our twenty five bags, which after all, came to us from Your Providence and Goodness
with twenty four other families.
So all our families get to eat.

And also Dad, 
we have messed up.
We have made mistakes - oh we really have made mistakes.
We were learning, and honestly, we did not always know that we were making a problem for the future when we made it.
And now we live with the regret, and the remorse, and the ill health, and the relationship problems.
Dad, please go easy on us.
You know that if You were to be just, we would deserve to be grounded
and not be allowed to inherit our inheritance portion, our right to be in Heaven with You as your child, your created one.
But please Dad, forgive us.
We promise to try not to mess up again.
And to help others with our guidance not to make the same mistakes we did.
And to help others who have made the same mistakes with their grief and their sorrow and to help them try to make things right.

And fair's fair Lord. We promise in return to go easy on others who have given us a hard time.
They also made mistakes. Sometimes we want to ground them
by giving them a hard time in the same way they hurt us Lord.
But You know, if You forgive me, well then I'll forgive them.
If I'm going to be Your child, it means that I'll have to give others the same treatment I hope for from Your loving Hands and caring Heart.

And Lord, there are dark powers going around which cause a lot of trouble,
Well this is all I can say, Lord; they are mighty smart and make a lot of heartache.
Help us to avoid them and walk in Your Light of Truth, Love and Honesty.
Help us to give lies, deceit and nastiness a wide berth.

And last of all, and certainly not least,
Congratulations on your wonderful world.
Honestly Dad God, it's gorgeous.
You can't believe; swans, and water that turns to steam in the summer and ice in the winter and frost on the windows,
and you can drink it. And it can be cold in summer drinks and hot in lovely tea and soup in winter.
And there are lovely animals, and fawns with big brown eyes,
and there's this person that I love. Love was such a wonderful invention, Lord, it makes my heart sing.
And families; and babies.
And work; and shelter; and laughter, and song. And all manner of wonderful things in this world.
Thanks for giving us a chance to share in this wonderful world You made.

And You are great, Lord God.
It gives me such happiness to bow down before You
with my heart full of love,
my voice full of song
and the words on my lips,
'I love you.'

Well that's it for today Lord.
With all my love.
Amen.

Photograph by Catherine Nicolette - for use copyright free