Prayer - the Reverend Gretchen Haley - "Bless today"

Bless today
your hesitancy
your shy shrug
your behind the scenes skepticism,
your sweet stoicism.

Bless your boredom
and your anxieties,
those worries that will not quiet
no matter the mantras,
the mettas, or
the meditating moments.

Bless your impatience and
your butterflies
your brash tone
and your desire to talk to no one
to care about nothing,
to be invisible and invincible
to be already perfect
and with ease, of course

Bless your shame
your self-doubt
your inner critic
and your coping techniques -
all of them,
whatever they may be.

Bless
most of all
your broken heart
and all the longings that made it so
bless your grief
your anger
and your still pressing hope.

All of these,
we bless -
All of ourselves,
we bless -
in this gathering made holy by our wholeness
this community made sacred by our scars
Let us be blessed

Let us be a blessing