A Prayer- On Being....

 A friend recently sent me a portion of

 a podcast that she had listened to and I share it here.

"On Being" podcast. 

Padraig O Tuama,

 an Irish man talking about how he prays.

“Neither I, nor the poets I love,

 found the keys to the kingdom of prayer

 and we cannot force God

 to stumble over us where we sit.

 But, I know that it’s a good idea

 to sit anyway. 

So every morning I sit,

 I kneel, waiting, 

making friends with the habit of listening,

 hoping that I’m being listened to. 

There, I greet God in my own disorder. 

I say hello to my chaos, my unmade decisions,

 my unmade bed, my desire and my trouble.

 I say hello to distraction and privilege,

 I greet the day and I greet my beloved 

and bewildering Jesus.

 I recognize and greet my burdens,

 my luck, my controlled and uncontrollable story.

 I greet my untold stories, my unfolding story,

 my unloved body, my own love, my own body.

 I greet the things I think will happen 

and I say hello to everything

 I do not know about the day.

 I greet my own small world

 and I hope that I can meet

 the bigger world that day. 

I greet my story and hope that I can forget

 my story during the day, 

and hope that I can hear some stories,

 and greet some surprising stories

 during the long day ahead.

 I greet God,

 and I greet the God 

who is more God than the God I greet.

  Hello to you all,

 I say, as the sun rises 

above the chimneys of North Belfast.

  Hello.”

Somehow- greeting God 

in my own disorder- strikes home.

 Perhaps too often I have a habit

 of making a Big God

 try to fit in my small world.

Lord, enlarge my world of listening,

help me to capture the stories of others,

that I may see YOU in the day to day 

of family, friends and neighbors. Amen.