To me, prayer shouldn’t be separate from daily life, but should arise spontaneously from it, inspired by the ordinary sights, sounds and experiences that surround us. That was the raison d’être behind my book Touching Down, as well as for the other books in the series, Heaven Touching Earth, Touched By His Hand and Touching the Seasons. In the following, for example, a handwritten letter leads to a prayer for help in glimpsing God in the world around us.
The handwriting
It was barely legible,
an indecipherable scrawl,
yet to the trained eye it was far more,
every dot, squiggle, line and curve
saying as much as the words,
if not more,
revealing the quirks, traits, strengths and weaknesses
of the one who wrote it.
Teach me, Lord, to glimpse you in the daily round of life
and the wonder of this world.
Where others look and see nothing,
help me to observe with the eye of faith,
perceiving the reality beneath the surface.
Open my heart as well as my eyes,
that I may look and truly see.
Amen.