FCCR-ACE Prayer Blog

Congregationalists Learning to Pray

Hi God,

Tomorrow is the 14th anniversary
of my father's passing away.
For all practical purposes,
he left us some years earlier
when he started having strokes.
Then again, in many ways,
he hasn't really left us at all:
many times, when beginning a task,
I hear his voice 
    coaching me,
    advising me,
    encouraging me.
Sometimes, when I screw up,
his voice combines with my own
and the chiding ensues.
Like most of us,
he wasn't perfect.
But I think he tried his hardest
to be a good father, 
and I think he succeeded fabulously.
I can only pray that
I could be half as good
fathering my own children.

Tomorrow, I'll be visiting my mother,
and we'll have fun, no doubt,
reminiscing about Dad
and about our lives 
together as a family. 
We'll also ponder the wonders
of the new family growing
in the wombs of Yuki and Katie,
my nieces in Seattle,
and the new family
in the weddings to be.
A celebration of family, 
if you will.

So my prayer today
is that we all take
a little time to 
appreciate our families:
   our parents,
   our siblings, 
   our own children,
   our weird uncles and aunts,
   our nieces and nephews,
   someday, one hopes, our grandchildren.
    And, of course, all the family
    we acquired by marriage,
    those in-laws we learn to love
    as if we'd always had them around.

Help us take time 
    to name them
    to see them in our minds eye.
    to thank you for their presence in our lives
    to feel and know You've richly blessed us.
Thank you for family.

Please also
have mercy on our souls
sinners though we be.

Amen