Photo by Elizabeth G Brooke

Tonight’s Prayer is inspired by Elizabeth Brooke’s beautiful photo which she captioned, “The brilliance of dying leaves.”

The brilliance of dying leaves stops me in my tracks

and will not let me pass 'til I consider

how beauty outlives form,

how surrender is a prelude to embrace,

how love survives a final, parting kiss...

The brilliance of dying leaves recalls a beauty

known only in surrendering,

embracing the absence of love - lost to Love itself:

to life forever, to peace that has no end,

to the joy that waits me patiently;

as autumn waits 'til leaves upon the branches

let go their dying brilliance

in prelude of a beauty yet to be...

The brilliance of dying leaves

stops me in my tracks, Lord, and will not let me pass

'til I consider how your grace outlives all nature's forms,

how my surrender yields to your embrace,

how all the love that's mine survives its loss

- to be found again in you...

The brilliance of dying leaves stops me in my tracks

and will not let me pass 'til I consider the mystery

of beauty lost and found again,

your warm embrace of shivering souls

and love outliving every death

'til nothing's lost and all is gain...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me as I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Tonight's music: an orchestra of Autumn Leaves... Let it be a background for the brilliance of beauty that stops you in your tracks... for recalling loves and loved ones lost... for praying for the Lord's warm embrace of your heart in these cool autumn days...