A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey-- Day 34: Monday after the 5th Sunday in Lent

Today’s Theme: Enduring Faith


Poem: Optimism
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs–all this resinous, unretractable earth.
-------------Jane Hirshfield (1953- )American poet, editor, and translator


Proverb:
When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous,
but dismay to evildoers.
----------------- Proverbs 21:15



Painting: Wind and Dust, Miné Okubo (1912-2001), Japanese- American, 1943
(Painted at Japanese-American Concentration Camp, Topaz, Utah)

     


Prayer: Resilience
Our praises sing before you,
O God Most High;

Our prayers rise unto You,
O Redeemer, Our Lord Jesus Christ;

Our fears we lay before you,
O Holy and Eternal Abba,
Father and Mother.

Our hopes we breathe in from your Eternal Love,
O Savior;

Our resilience we draw from you,
Abiding Holy Spirit,
who lifts us and prepares us
for our work in your kingdom today.

O Creator,
we turn into your embrace for solace and strength,
and lay before you those needs for whom we pray.
Amen.

------------------- Leslie Barnes Scoopmire