A Prayer Among Friends
As I’ve often said, although I don’t understand prayer, I still do it. And this poem, John Daniel’s “A Prayer among Friends,” gets at part of the reason why: the very act of prayer calls things to mind that we might not otherwise notice.
Prayer invites a measure of attention, and in this way sometimes actually grants what it requests. And so here, simply by calling to mind the pleasures of “this unlikely world,” we are far more likely to notice and enjoy them. By inviting us to spend our time generously and seek a vision that serves all, we are that much more likely to do so. The act of praying, in this sense, can be its own answer.
So wherever you might be this weekend, I hope you can share this prayer among friends, silently or aloud, noticing with fresh eyes the “gift of good work,” and simply by praying, receive these good gifts of God once again.
A Prayer among Friends
Among other wonders of our lives, we are alive
with one another, we walk here
in the light of this unlikely world
that isn’t ours for long.
May we spend generously
the time we are given.
May we enact our responsibilities
as thoroughly as we enjoy
our pleasures. May we see with clarity,
may we seek a vision
that serves all beings, may we honor
the mystery surpassing our sight,
and may we hold in our hands
the gift of good work
and bear it forth whole, as we
were borne forth by a power we praise
to this one Earth, this homeland of all we love.
“A Prayer among Friends” by John Daniel, from Of Earth: Poems
My thanks to “The Writer’s Almanac,” where I stumbled across this prayer and poem.
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