Good Intentions

Several weeks ago, this prayer weaseled its way onto one of my social media feeds.

May the broken be healed.
May the sick be restored.
May happiness return to those in despair.
May the lonely be loved.
May the hungry be fed.
May our world be at peace.

It caught my attention.
“What if…” I wondered.
What if…
Before my cup of coffee;
Before scrolling through the morning news;
Before walking the dog;
I took a moment and read that prayer.
And allowed it to settle within me
And in the space around me?

“Great idea.” I thought. “I will read it each morning.”
I took a screen shot of it.
And, as quickly as I took the picture
It disappeared into the hundreds
If not thousands
Of pictures stored on my phone.
So much for good intentions.

But yesterday, looking for something else
I came across the prayer again.
And, it caught my attention again.
“I can do better.” I thought.
So, I found an unused picture frame in a box in our basement
And, printed off the prayer so it fit in the frame.
It now sits on my desk.
Maybe it needs to move to the kitchen. I’ll see.
But this morning
Before coffee
And scrolling
And walking the dog
I read the prayer
And then, read it again.
And, took a deep breath.

I know just reading those simple, poignant words is not enough.
I remember the African proverb
“When you pray, move your feet.”
So, the next step for me is to “move my feet.”
To take one of those sentences
And each week
Each day
With intentionality
Do something to help move our world in that direction.

May the broken be healed.
May the sick be restored.
May happiness return to those in despair.
May the lonely be loved.
May the hungry be fed.
May our world be at peace.