Quiet Reflections and Prayers
When we have reached
the place
where words can’t go,
when we seem
most separated
by time and distance,
when the way through
all that stands between us
can’t be seen
and all that is known
is the next needed step,
let us remember
the quiet,
often silent prayers,
that led us that far
and continue on.
Amen
Just for a moment,
let’s hold what is
most true.
Let’s dust off those
wordless prayers
we keep tucked away
and raise them up —
past all the noise
on the surface
to their true place —
not to reach some
distant goal,
but just to meet,
just for a moment,
in the heart.
Amen
When what is in my heart
and yours
has gotten lost, somehow,
in translation,
may we have courage
to hold steady —
letting go and trusting
in all that can’t
be spoken.
May the words
that come back
be firmly rooted
in this place.
Amen
Thank you
for each part played
in this great mystery
of life —
for there are
surely no small parts here.
Thank you
for each act of love —
each burden carried,
held with honor
and transformed.
Thank you
for each moment
of true connection
kept sacred —
those who dare
to hold something pure
within,
sharing only the beauty
of its reflection.
Thank you for each
courageous step
into the heart.
Amen
Let the noise
within
be quieted,
just enough —
that we may hear
our own quiet prayers
and know
without doubt
that we could never be
apart.
Amen
Let me be a reprieve
from the endless loops
of thinking and doing.
the space behind,
the place that mind
would say must be
around another bend
of more thinking
and doing
and teaching
and learning,
the place we look
right past
because we think
it should be different
or more,
because it includes
all that we would
choose to exclude.
Let me be that place
in this moment.
Amen
I hold this silent prayer
for the times
when we feel small,
when we fail
to reach past
all that seems to stand
between us —
that we may remember
to reach again
and to trust
that our silent prayers
are always spoken
and heard —
even when we forget.
Amen
When I have let go
of so much,
when my body is tired
and my spirit is too,
when I can’t see
a break in the story,
remind me of the calm
just beneath the surface,
the slightest change
of positioning,
and that little bit
of backing up
so that I may
retrace my steps
to even greater reprieve.
Amen
And so I began
to show up
in a new way,
with only a quiet prayer
in my heart
and a mind free
of clutter,
not because it had been
neatly sorted out —
but because it hadn’t.
Let us hold
this space for healing
within our hearts.
Even as the outer world
goes through
its own transformations
and we are faced with
all that appears —
all in need
of honoring —
all that needs
to be released,
let us hold
this space
that needs nothing else.
Amen
Laurie's Notes 