A prayer today from my book Are You Listening? Honest Prayers about Life. I related it there primarily to breakdowns in relationships, and to the bitterness this can cause that slowly eats away at a person, but it speaks much more widely than that, to frustration and disappointment brought on by a host of situations. Many, for example, as the coronavirus crisis once more starts to escalate, with increasing self-isolation measures being enforced as a result, feel that it’s close to being the last straw for them. How much more can we take? How much longer can we keep going? Young people see their hopes for the future disappearing. Thousands have lost their jobs, their security and their dreams. Businesses and entrepreneurs face the prospect of financial ruin, as yet another hammer-blow descends on them. This prayer, taking the form of a dialogue with God, offers hope that, whatever challenges and disappointments life might bring, he will help us through.
It was the last straw, Lord –
they were broken,
scarred in spirit,
the light gone from their eyes.
And I could see why, all too clearly,
for life had been cruel,
harsh in the extreme,
sucking them slowly dry.
It hadn’t been just one disappointment –
they could have lived with that, shrugged it off –
but they had known many,
time and again hope beckoning them forward
only to knock them backwards.
They’d tried even then,
putting a brave face on for the world,
but the smile had worn thin
as the blows kept coming –
another chance missed,
another ambition thwarted,
another dream crushed,
another failure to live with.
It hurt me to see them, Lord,
so bitter and twisted,
so angry at life,
but I couldn’t blame them,
still less condemn,
for I know in their shoes I’d have felt just the same.
Lord, save me from that –
teach me to meet life’s blows with cheerfulness,
to face defeat with dignity,
to see hopes crushed,
trust broken,
and love betrayed,
yet still carry light in my soul.
My child,
remember this moment,
the pain you’ve seen,
the scars inflicted,
and remember the prayer you offered.
For life will bring hurt, whoever you are,
its share of hardship and sorrow,
and, though you try to meet them cheerfully,
such times will take their toll.
I’ve seen it happen all too often –
an opportunity wasted,
a hope denied,
a desire frustrated –
and suddenly regrets take over,
festering inside,
until there is nothing left
but dull and bitter resentment.
Don’t think I condemn, any more than you do,
for they have reason to be angry
and cause to complain,
but it hurts me, more than I can say,
to see a heart starved,
and a soul shrivelled,
poisoned by its own gall.
And it can happen, my child,
to you as much as anyone –
if you dwell on the past and brood on your lot.
So come to me and let it all out,
before what might have been
destroys what yet can be.