Image: George Mendoza
Ah, November, Lord…
The gateway, in these parts, to shorter
days and colder nights, to “the holidays” and all
that they entail, to the year’s end and all the wonder and the worry, the mystery
of what a new year might leave upon the doorstep…
Not my favorite time of
year, Lord, this season of fading, falling leaves and bare branches scratching
against gray skies…
And, well… you know how I
feel about the snow!
But in all things living
comes this dying, Lord, this inevitable annual ending, sapping the strength of
all that was bright and beautiful, warm and wonderful…
After the harvest there
comes this time for raking, burning, plowing under, waiting for the winter… then
waiting through winter… and
waiting for the waiting to end…
I don’t like the end of
things, Lord: the dying, the loss, the giving up and the letting go…
My soul mourns the loss of
summer’s warmth and grieves over autumn’s beauty passed away…
I shiver against the chill
November brings... And December’s promise of colder days tempts me to doubt the
spring…
Ah, November, Lord…
What other month might
better bear our prayers offered up for all souls gone before us: precious
leaves fallen from our family trees…
All those holy souls: lost
and found and claimed by you, harvested for life that has no end…
November, Lord: the month to
pause and face the loss of what we prayed would never end but did…
November: the month to stop
and take account of how all dying’s part of living; that after death there
comes a life that has no end, a time when we will know your reign of peace and
know again the love of those who’ve gone before us…
November, the month of souls
whose loss has touched my heart in ways I cannot bring to speech but bring to
prayer for you to touch with healing, with the grace of hope that sees beyond
the summer’s end, beyond the fall and winter’s wait for springtime and the life
you promise without end…
I offer you the souls, the
lives, the love, the memories of those who’ve gone before me, Lord and in the
quiet of my prayer now I lift them
up by name…
I lift them up to you in prayer, Lord: welcome them in mercy to the place you have prepared for them since before all time began…
In your eyes, Lord, for
your faithful, life does not end but rather changes: when the body of our
earthly dwelling lies in death we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven…
Hold in your arms, Lord,
those for whom I pray and shape my life according to your word that one day I
may be with you and them when your mercy gathers us together, again, in the joy
of your kingdom…
Such is my prayer this
November morning, Lord, this day and through this month: hear my prayer and in
your kindness, answer me…
Amen.
(For an archive of previous Monday Morning Offerings,
check here or click on the coffee cup at the top of the sidebar...)
election
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