When We Pray

                                                                                 

When we pray,

we must not only pray for the souls and illnesses of others,
but for the fears and weaknesses within ourselves.

When we pray,

we must pray for humility—
to remember that as certain as we are of what is right,
others are just as certain too.

When we pray,

we must ask our God, our gods, or our own willpower
to help us resist the temptations
that erode our relationships,
our health,
our purpose.

When we pray,

we must ask for the strength
to rise above our fears and phobias—
so we may fully embrace
the beauty and richness life offers.

When we pray,

we must pray for wisdom—
not just to accept our blessings,
but to find grace when others receive what we desired,
even when it seems to come at our expense.

When we pray,

we must pray
to soften our sensitivity,
to steady our reactions
to the slights and stings that are—more often than not—unintentional.

When we pray,

we must pray
to be fair in our dealings,
to temper our suspicions,
and not let our insecurities
poison our perceptions of others.

In other words,

when we pray,

we must pray
for the awareness to see
when we are being greedy,
when we are being cruel,
when we are being disrespectful.

We must pray.

When we pray,

we must ask
to release our closed-mindedness—
so we may truly hear others,
even those whose beliefs differ from ours,
without offense,
without judgment,
without the urge to convert or correct.

We must pray,

to become better versions of ourselves.
Because a better version of ourselves
will do more good in the world
than any prayer alone.

This—this is what we should pray for.

We must pray.

There are said to be 108 human weaknesses.
We must name the ones we carry—
the ones that drive wedges between us and others—
and pray not to hide them,
but to heal them.

We must pray.