Let Something Essential Happen to Me

I love this prayer by Ted Loder


O God
Let something essential happen to me,
Something more than interesting
Or entertaining
Or thoughtful

O God,
Let something essential happen to me,
Something awesome
Something real
Speak to my condition, Lord,
And change me inside where it matters,
A change that will burn and tremble and heal
And explode me into tears
Or laughter
Or love TJAT throbs or screams
Or keeps a terrible, cleansing silence
And dares the dangerous deeds

Let something happen to me
Which is my real self, God

O God,
Let something exciting and passionate happen in me now.
Strip me of my illusions of self sufficiency
Of my proud sophistications,
Of my inflated assumptions of knowledge
And leave me shivering as Adam or Eve
Before the miracle of the natural-
The miracle of this earth
That nurtures me as a mother
And delights me as a lover.

The miracle of ,y body
That breathes and moves,
Hungers and digests,
Sees and hears;
That is creased and wrinkled and sexual
Shrinks in hurt
And swells in pleasure;
That works by the most amazing messages,
Of what and where and how,
Coded and curled in every cell
And that dares to speak the confronting word

O God
Let something essential and joyful happen in me now
Something like the blooming of hope and faith
Loke a grateful heart,
Like a surge of awareness
Of how precious each moment is
That now, not next time
Now is the occasion
To take off my shoes
To see every bush afire,
To leap and whirl with neighbor,
To gulp the air as sweet wine
Until I've drunk enough
To dare to speak the tender word:
"thank you"
"I love you"
"you're beautiful"
"let's live together forever now"
And "I'm a fool for Christ's sake"