I don’t usually like to share homework, but this is a personal reflection I enjoyed, due to it’s creativity requirement, and thought I would enjoy sharing it with anyone who would like to read it.
Below are five celtic-ish prayers I was to write and use every day this week.
I say celtic-ish, because they’re not Gaelic or even Irish or Scottish, but rather have hints of Irish prayer elements, such as nature references, trinitarian references and basic rhyming schemes.
(As with anything I write, I hope my lighthearted wit comes across with warmth and not disrespect. Meaning, it’s okay to giggle at my prayers, I like to think that God does.)
Please enjoy!
My journal this week consists of these five prayers I have written and this brief explanation of my journey this week. I have always loved poetry, and while my rhyming pattern has never left grade school, my fondness of creating has developed. That is why I was excited to do this particular spiritual practice. It is in cute rhymes and repetitions that I believe many people learn important life lessons. It is the nursery rhymes of younger years that stick with many of us and their basic values that have an impact on the decisions we make even today in our adult lives. With that in mind, it is a refreshing opportunity to focus on simple and honest lyricism as a way to focus my thoughts this week. What a joy!
A Coffee Prayer:
As I buy my coffee and bagel rye,
I ask your presence to arrive.
Upon my mind and in my ear,
Breathe words of love while I shmear.
While within my belly the sacraments rest,
Provide me wisdom to profess.
And as I need the caffeine’s drug,
May I feel your endless love.
In Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
With my coffee cup I toast.
A Shower Prayer:
Scrubbing high and scrubbing low,
Upon my back, between my toes.
I remove the filth, which upon me lies,
And ask for favor within your eyes.
As I rinse away my sin unseen,
I ask your love to keep me clean.
A Lunchtime Prayer:
As I break to feed my face,
I pause to thank you for your grace.
Holy Spirit, Father and Son,
Thanks that I might enjoy the sun.
As my mind relaxes from the daily stress,
Rest my soul upon your chest.
Confide in me that I might see,
A glisten of divinity.
A Study Prayer:
I read my books and wonder how,
This wisdom learned is truer now,
That you have come into my life,
And taught me naught but sacrifice.
For wisdom learned is never fair,
Unless wisdom learned is ever shared.
I ask your wit to come with me,
As I search eternity.
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Teach to me your uttermost.
A Bedtime Prayer:
I sit on the edge and ponder my day.
Did the mysteries of life unfold in this way?
I ask for your guidance, in life, as I dream,
That tomorrow I wake up refreshed and serene.
The faith I have lived in Son, Father and Spirit,
May my restful slumbers only endear it.
Tomorrow I look to your face as I rise,
From prayers I now speak, when I close my eyes.