Day 36 - April 15, 2014

Sometimes, Lord,

it seems to be too much

    too much violence, too much fear;

    too much of demands and problems;

    too much of broken dreams and broken lives;

    too much of war and slums and dying;

    too much of greed and squishy fatness

        and the sounds of people

            devouring each other

                and the earth;

    too much of stale routines and quarrels,

        of unpaid bills and dead ends;

    too much of words lobbed in to explode

        and leaving shredded hearts and lacerated souls:

    too much of turned-away backs and yellow silence

        red rage and the bitter taste of ashes in my mouth.

Sometimes the very air seems scorched

    by threats and rejection and decay

        until there is nothing

            but to inhale pain

                and exhale confusion.

Too much of darkness, Lord,

    too much of cruelty

        and selfishness

            and indifference.

Too much, Lord,

    too much,

        too bloody,

            bruising,

                brain-washing much.

Or is it too little,

    too little of compassion,

too little of courage

    of daring,

        of persistence,

            of sacrifice;

too little of music

    and laughter

        and celebration?

O God,

make of me some nourishment

    for these starved times,

some food

    for my brothers and sisters

        who are hungry for gladness and hope,

that, being bread for them,

    I may also be fed

            and be full.                                                                            

                                                                         Ted Loder