NIGHT PRAYER: Wednesday 7/9

I was watching a foreign film, Lord, 

when the thought crossed my mind:

   you never have need of subtitles...

 

You're fluent in every language there is:

no dialect is beyond your ken,

no jargon or idiom trips you up,

no regional accent confuses your ear,

all of it's in your vernacular,

every human tongue is native to you...

And the same holds true in the animal world

with its sounds and calls and songs:

    every hoot, howl, growl and grunt,

    every bark, bleat, warble and gobble

    every moo, meow, bellow and bray, 

yes, every last sound, a prayer to your ear, 

   understood, discerned and welcomed...

    

And then, Lord, there's me:

you discern every sound I utter,

    every word, phrase, sigh or cry,

    every moan, groan, laugh and giggle,

    all my open weeping and silent tears 

    my long harangues and my silence, too...

You understand the prayer in my heart

even when I'm not sure

what I want or need to pray for...

You hear my voice when it's silent,

when I've no words to speak,

no songs to sing, no sounds to make...  

You have no need for subtitles, Lord,

you understand

    all the words I speak,

    my heart's expression,

    my emotions' inflection,

    my clumsy rhetoric,

    my soul's stumbling diction

    - and my silence when that's all there is...

 

You have no need for subtitles, Lord,

you hear and know, intuit and understand,

you really get every word I speak

and all I want and mean to say

even when words fail to come 

to mind, to my heart, to my lips...

 

For always listening, always hearing

and always understanding me,

I praise and thank you, Lord...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

    and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

    and asleep rest in your peace...

 

Amen. 

 

God Who Understands by Henry Roe

 

If a video doesn't appear below, click here!

 

 

 

 

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!