“When you’re unhinged things make their way out of you that should be kept inside, and other things get in that ought to be shut out. The locks lose their powers. The guards go to sleep. The passwords fail.”
Margaret Attwood
“Cheerfulness is an endless possibility, one that gives us the option of moving forward in any situation, instead of being oppressed by it.”
Sakyong Mipham
“Don’t try to change life, but change the way you look at it. Make peace with this moment, be kind and gentle to yourself.”
Ajahn Brahm
‘Be present, O merciful God and protect us through the silent hours of this night, so that we who are fatigued by the changes and chances of this fleeting world, may repose upon Thy eternal changelessness. ‘
Prayer Companion
“Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.”
Psalm 116: 2
MY PRAYER today is for stability. Stable ships move surely and smoothly through the water. They ride out the storm because their weight is balanced. They keep their direction because of their even keel. They stay afloat because they are water-tight to the elements. Today I pray for those things that maintain our sense of stability – an indwelling peace, security, joy, courage, meaning, trust, faith.
The world tends to beat at our defences, it can prove untrustworthy, and is prone to disappoint, but God’s changelessness is our security, His faithfulness our peace. In those moments that come to all of us, when we fear we’ll come unhinged, he takes our weakened structures in his masterly hand, repairs us, reinforces us, and keeps us homeward bound.
These are drawn from daily prayers and reflections I write for my Chaplaincy colleagues.
Living Tree Poetry 