Monday, May 13, 2013

Strivings

In the Anglican Sunday service there is a part called the "Prayers of the People" (or the "Intercessions")where someone from the congregation comes up to offer general prayers.  There are a half-dozen "scripts" in the service book that can be used, or the Intercessor (we Anglicans like to have fancy names for everything) can essentially make up their own prayers. 

We have some people in our congregation who do a pretty bang-up job of intercessing - writing prayers that verge on poetry in some cases.  Recently, one of the Intercessors added this hymn text to the end of her prayers:

Drop Thy still dews of quietness
Til all our strivings cease
Take from our souls the strain and stress
And make our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.
     ~John Greenleaf Whittier

It was just what I needed to hear that day.  So much of what goes on in our heads is needless "striving" - a constant, restless searching/seeking to make things better, faster, more efficient, or otherwise different than how they are.  We're always on the lookout for that magic formula that's going to make our lives perfect in one easy step.  Thank you, John Greenleaf Whittier, for helping me put a (temporary) stop to all that chatter in my head and realize that I do not need to work so hard at "striving".  

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