A Sweet Duty

I'm realizing that life can be treacherous.

heartbreak, pain, doubt.

depression, sickness, worry.

loss, cancer, death.

These are all things that are surrounding me,

taking place in my friendships,

to the people I love.

And I try to come up with words.

words of comfort,

words of healing, 

words of faith.

It's not enough.

So I pray.

Even then my words fall short.

My efforts at asking are feeble.

So I open my clenched hands,

give that person, that hurt, that fear

back to Him.

My praying has been a kind of surrender.

Forgetting my desires

for healing, for everything to be okay again.

Asking for God's best,

and having faith that through trials, tears, set backs

always comes beauty.

Take heart.

"It is a sweet duty, praying for our friends. 

I always feel as if I had had a brief meeting with you when I do so:

perhaps it is a meeting,

and the very best kind"

--C.S. Lewis