Exaggeration or reality? There’s not a person of faith–dead or alive–who hasn’t at some point trudged through a desert landscape of dusty dry and somewhat dessicated prayer. By grace, our rote prayers at these times provide comfort by virtue of their structure. By faith, we know mind, heart and spirit will come back into alignment at some point here or in the hereafter.
Thanks to the contemporary miracle that is Twitter, I was led to the following YouTube video by a Presbyterian minister who has become an online companion on my journey of faith. The video isn’t even a minute long and the primary image, that of a tornado that leveled the town of Ringgold, Georgia, is stunning.
But that’s not what captured my soul, prompted me to watch it numerous times, and share it here. It’s what’s we are privileged to hear–authentic prayer from the heart. I hear the psalmist in the Southern drawl, how about you?
“Dear God, be with them.” The phrase really struck me.
I likened the tornado to “destructive” people I have met in my life–people who at one point or the other have put me down . I wish that instead of retaliating I can say quietly whenever they find the excuse to put me down “Dear God, be with them.”
Thanks so much, Meredith. It brought tears to my eyes and yes, what a prayer from the heart.
You too, eh? Tears and a deep sense of awe for me.
Maureen, you could not have said it better. Good tears, and a prayerful soul–pure faith.