Morning Prayer for a broken world

Lord I am here to be with you.
I receive your love.
I am here.

In this room
with a prayer shawl on me,
and a candle burning
and with time to be
here present

And as I sit here
there are hostages in fear in France
there are people in the hospital with cancer
there are children orphaned by ebola
there are people around the world I pain, grief, poverty, hunger, depression, suffering

And yet you call me here to that I can be filled?  to overflowing?

How to hold the awareness of love and hate
     abundance and scarcity
         blessing and suffering
               together

I am a woman of hope. I read Anne Lamott this morning:
    "The thing about Easter is that Jesus comes back from the dead both resurrected and broken, with the wounds from the nails still visible."
She also wrote:"Hope is not about proving anything.  It's choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim bleak shit anyone can throw at us."

So I pray to Jesus in my helplessness  and my hope- for all who are wounded, all who are waiting for freedom, all who are broken.  Come, Lord Jesus and bring your piece, your healing and your love.  Amen

My morning blessing from Maxine Shonk

May the God of WINTER be with you walking with you as warmth and light through the iced-over parts of your life.
May you see these icy times as God's invitation to "walk on water." 
In the dark and cold winter moment of your journey, may your trust in  the hidden growth of winter be for you a source of inner strength. 
May the blessing of WINTERHOPE be with you.
Amen