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Prayer of the Heart As I sit, cosy and warm looking out onto the back garden covered in snow, further snow gently falling, the watery sun shining. A steaming cup of hot chocolate by my side, my mind turns to those less fortunate than myself, the homeless, the hungry, the lonely. Maybe you would like to sit here with me, holding them before God. How would I cope if I had to live rough? I don’t know that I could. How hopeless the situation. If I had no shelter from the extremes of the weather, no haven to return to at night, nowhere to lay my weary head. ‘Lord I thank you for the blessing of my home, so warm, so comfortable. I hold before you all who are homeless, shelter them in your ever loving arms.’ How would I cope knowing that each waking day will be spent looking or begging for food, for drink, especially if I had children to care for? ‘Lord I thank you for the abundant food you put on my table daily. I hold before you all who are hungry. Help us to share the abundance of food in this world with one another so that no child may go hungry to sleep at night.’ How would I cope without family or friends or in a strange country on my own? How empty life must seem, no hugs, no kisses, no gentle banter, no one to accompany me along life’s highway. ‘Lord I thank you for all my family and friends for they greatly enrich my life so fully. I hold before all who are lonely, let them feel your presence surrounding them, knowing that you are their constant companion, their friend.’ Wouldn’t it be beautiful to have ‘Peace on Earth,’ a world where no matter your creed, your colour, your intellect, your physical/mental capabilities, or financial status, all of us were of equal standing. No prejudice, of colour or creed No rich, No poor, No homeless, No lonely No hungry, No outcasts No illness, No death Such a place already exists, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ and one day we will all have a rightful place there. Whilst we are still here on earth let us ask God to help us to put aside our grievances, our prejudices, our hurts. For how can there ever be world peace if we don’t learn to forgive and accept one another, just as we are, warts and all. Through prayer and God’s guidance we can attain forgiveness, through forgiveness healing, through healing reconciliation. A closing prayer Lord as we face the New Year, let it be, A time of grace, A time of forgiveness when pardons flow A time of healing old wounds and making peace A time of reconciliation for all mankind A time when there is no more hunger, homelessness, despair, A time when all wars will cease, and the world will be at peace. For family and friends, a year of blessings that increase, A time of goodness for those held dear, Lord let this be a ‘Blessed New Year.’ Amen Your sister in Christ Pauline
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