Become What We Are

Let us leave what we were

As I noted in the last issue, I’ve begun writing a prayer every day. When I write, I feel the energy of the prayer far more than when I speak a prayer. Continuing that practice, I wrote this prayer a couple weeks ago.

As I wrote it, I felt the energy of the words fill me. And then, curiously, when I read these words to some friends, the emotion welled up even more forcefully. A power came upon me in putting voice to these words, a power I’d never experienced before. Perhaps, for me, the dual acts of writing a prayer and then speaking it aloud — outside of me — bring me closest to the divine.

I dedicate this prayer to my preceptor, Kate Stein, and her father-in-law, Jim Stein.

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Become What We Are

Light of Heaven –

As birds with feeble wings
Wobble to the edge of perched twigs and dirt,
High up in the blue,
Look forward in questioning,
Look down in trembling,
Look up in wonder,
And depart.

A former life has vanished,
Not to return,
In the days of long sun or crisp winds,
For the birds to become what they are.

We will soon scatter from one another.
A former life will vanish.
We will stride to the edge,
And leave what we were,
To become what we are.

With your grace, we become what we are. 
Holy One, with your grace, we become what we are.

Amen.