A Global Christmas
Prayer for Peace in Our Lifetime or All I want for Christmas
Lord, thank You for
this ordinary day, which is anything but ordinary;
but I cannot live
everyday in the exulted consciousness and knowledge of You and everything You
have given us already.
I can only live in
my prosaic mind. My small human mind is only capable of human
thoughts and I am foolish and arrogant to think I can think Godly
thoughts and know Your plan. And it is silly of me to think and to
use words to try to express Your Spirit.
So I am left to my
own rough and pock-marked character; even though, with Your divine
help, I can remain constant, it is always my own uneven personality
which needs to remain vigilant.
It is a work in
progress, forged by the choices I chose to make everyday. For in
choosing to walk in Your Light, along Your lighted path, I gain a
measure of peace. When I harbor no mean thoughts toward my brothers
and sisters and I judge not their souls or my own, but always seek to
see You at work in all of us, I gain a longer vista.
I gain an acceptance
of a greater truth; we were not designed to hurt and to kill each
other. That is only what we do in our ignorance and denial of the
real truth. And for some the real truth is beyond them, or above
them, or below them, or just does not cross their radar because they
are too intent on their personal agenda and do not have the heart yet
to see how You have woven us all together in Your matrix of life.
And when we hurt each other, these are only the disconnects of man's
world which is always breaking the fabric of Your Perfect World.
It is true we were
once part of Your Garden of Eden and we chose to use only our minds
to see what is all around us. We extol our own rationality, but
what is that but the wisdom You have already planted in our hearts.
Your divine wisdom is the only glue which maintains us. Your
infinite Love is the only force which drives all the creative forces
of the world.
When we bend to Your
will, and see ourselves in context, when we see ourselves as part of
the miracle of life on this third Rock, we gain the emotional and
spiritual maturity to know the real truth:
"We are all joined in
one common journey; we are all part of Your parade of life."
And You
sent Jesus and Many others to tell us of this. But we remain
ignorant because we chose not to see the real truth. The real truth
that would set us free of our preoccupation with ourselves and also
set us free of the delusion that we rule the Planet and must enslave
one another, like turtles climbing on top of turtles.
For those thoughts
and that thinking is the thinking of man's mind and man's fears.
And while it is true
we must compete and seek to perfect ourselves, that does not mean we
must mistreat one another or treat each other unfairly. Only when
we uphold our uncommon dignity which we derive from You, Lord, can we
be free. Only when each is given an opportunity to seek You freely,
and to express their heartfelt appreciation of Your Gift of Life and
Your Gift of Creation, do we gain a proper place to stand.
In the meaning of
our Christian heritage in North America, in the meaning of all the
diverse people of all faiths who have joined with us here to
celebrate our freedom to worship You in whatever way holds meaning
for them, and in the meaning of our First Nation's people celebrating
You as the Great Spirit which joins everything,
I pray to all that
is holy and sacred about our existence on this speck of rock and
water and earth and fire and air;
for all of us to
wake up and see the truth of our brotherhood, and to see You, Lord,
as the only arbiter of our fate. Amen
