NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 4/13

On a walk this afternoon, Lord,

I came across these beauties 

preparing for their spring debut

and I thought...

 

These tulips have been quarantined since fall:

out of circulation, masked by frozen earth,

keeping proper social distance, awaiting the vaccine 

that only spring can bring:

   sunshine, warmth and rain 

   and the thaw that raises up new life

   where wintry death had cast its spell

   and stilled for months such beauty's growth...

Now, our quarantine is showing signs of spring

and for that I'm more than grateful

- but teach us, Lord, teach us the patience 

of daffodils, jonquils and tulips;

render us as yielding as dogwood 

   waiting quietly to flower,

as forsythia holding its breath 

   before breaking forth in yellow-golden praise 

      of you and of this season

when you tease us and invite us

   to be born again in grace

     as though we've wakened from the dead...

Make us patient, Lord,

with the seasons as they change,

with you and with your ways,

and with healing of our world

that waits the touch of your hand

in the spring time of this year...

Protect us, Lord, while we're awake

and watch over us as we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

 

Amen.

 

Hymn of Promise by Nancy Allen

 

 

In the bulb, there is a flower 

In the seed, an apple tree 

In cocoons, a hidden promise 

Butterflies will soon be free 

 

In the cold and snow of winter 

There's a spring that waits to be 

Unrevealed until its season 

Something God alone can see 

 

There's a song in every silence 

Seeking word and melody 

There's a dawn in every darkness 

Bringing hope to you and me 

 

From the past will come the future 

What it holds, a mystery 

Unrevealed until its season 

Something God alone can see 

 

In our end is our beginning 

In our time, infinity 

In our doubt, there is believing 

In our life, eternity

 

In our death, a resurrection 

At the last, a victory 

Unrevealed until its season 

Something God alone can see 

    Photo by CP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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