A Sabbath Prayer
We cannot merely pray to you, O God, to end war;
For we know that You have made the world in a way that people must find their own path to peace within themselves and with their neighbors.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For You have already given us the resources with which to feed the entire world, if we would only use them wisely.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to root out prejudice;
For You have already given us eyes with which to see the good in all people, if we would only use them rightly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end despair;
For You have already given us the power to clear away slums and to give hope, if we would only use our power justly.
We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease;
For You have already given us great minds with which to search out cures and healing, if we would only use them constructively.
Therefore we pray to You instead, O God, for strength, determination and will power,
To do instead of just pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.
~ Jack Riemer
2 replies on “To do, to become…”
What a PERFECT prayer/reflection on the meaning of Christ’s words: “Love one another, as I have loved you.” Christ used the word love as a verb – not a feeling – and action verb – to do acts of love! Thank you for this most beautiful prayer. I am going to copy it and print it out – so I can have it close at hand. And I will hit ‘Share with Friends’ on my Facebook page – as I want all my family/friends to read this!
Beautiful prayer and so very timely.
Thank you.