Child in Sierra Leone

(Today was another dark rainy day and now the wind is blowing hard. Here is a psalm that I found in my heart today.)

When I see violence in nature, an animal slaying its prey, I expect it.
When I see violence in society, man killing man, I want to cry.
But my heart has been so hardened by violence often I just look away.

I do not want to see the cruelty of the hundreds of thousands of exiles driven out of Iraq.
I do not want to hear about the daily killings in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I do not want to touch those whose minds or bodies have been injured by violence.
I do not want to smell the odor in run down apartment buildings for the poor.
I do not want to taste the food humans are forced to eat to survive.

There is no way I can open my heart to all this violence without despairing.
I cannot stop the violence embedded in our society.

What I can only do is pray to you God, Allah, Higher Power or whatever name we choose to call You.
I pray that You open my heart no matter how much it hurts,
And that I am given the strength and courage by You to change myself,
To hold inside the awful tension of what is and what I want it to be
And do the right thing, no matter how hard it may be.

Give me the strength to face insults, rejections, being ignored and even violence,
If I am doing Your will.

If I hear your voice today, harden not my heart
Even though it may be your voice crying in pain and buried in violence.

After a violent rain storm in nature, plants and animals emerge.
With Your grace and blessings we will survive this violence of our time
To once again live together in hope.

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