Sunday, May 7, 2017

Prayer for pain, grace, hope

A few years ago I encountered both Anne Lamott's book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers and Mary Oliver's poem "Praying":

“It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.”


Both pushed me to reframe the way that I think about prayer. Because I am Quaker, I had never thought of myself as praying. I thought about holding people in the Light and I thought about connecting with that of God within me, but I never considered any of that prayer. Anne Lamott and Mary Oliver helped me to get to a place in which I engage more directly and intentionally with a higher power. It gives me another tool in my spiritual toolbox.

This spring I developed a prayer model for myself that builds off of that foundation. There is tragedy on the news day after day, but there are also myriad sources of inspiration. When I begin to feel weighed down by a current event, I craft a prayer that names the pain, the grace I have found in the face of the pain, and the hope I have for the future. I have found meaningful spiritual grounding in this framework. It has become a lens through which I can consider the world. It helps me to feel agency.

Yesterday I read an article, "How to Stay Sane if Trump is Driving You Insane: Advice From a Therapist" by Robin Chancer, which offers advice that mirrors my practice. In order to process what is happening in the world, it is important to acknowledge how challenging current events can be to learn about, while also maintaining gratitude and faith. Neither optimism nor pessimism are particularly useful, but mindfulness is key. My pain, grace, hope prayers allow me to move beyond the feelings that I have about the world outside and focus instead on all that I have to share with the world. When challenges erupt around me, I have a place of inner peace that I have trained my mind to find. It is not a backing down, but rather a return to my source of strength during hard times. 

No comments:

Post a Comment