The Prayer

While out with Fred the other evening I was, as usual, cogitating on topics to post about.  I had started putting ideas together about something, but then out of the blue, this prayer came to mind, so I thought I'd share it instead.  =)

"O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.  Then in Thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.  Amen."

Have you heard it before?  Isn't it so beautiful?  For me, it's one of those things that is so poignantly beautiful it nearly makes me want to weep every time I hear it.  I'm sure you have those things too.  You know what I mean---something that when you hear it/see it it gives you goosebumps or a thrill or makes you want to cry.  Sometimes it's a song, or a poem, or a story. Or maybe it's a place of special meaning---like the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier or the Statue of Liberty.   Personally, I have quite a few!  And this prayer is one of them.  I'm not exactly sure why this prayer does it for me more than others, but I think it has a great deal to do with how I first heard it.   My Uncle Charles.  He was the first person I heard to pray this prayer, and every time I hear or read it, it is my Uncle Charles' voice that I hear.  He didn't just read it, like so many words on a page.  He spoke it, like poetry in motion,  words devoutly changing from black to color right in front of you. He made them mean something.  I can't say what I see in my mind when I hear these words.  It's rather like an elusive dream that is there, and is familiar, but can't be put into words.  Know what I mean?  However,  I can tell you there is poignancy and warmth there---like years and years of past graces received all tied into today's communication and devotion to God.  Like praying this prayer that so many faithful have prayed before me not only lets me communicate with God, but also, somehow, ties me to the devout ones who have gone before me.  Does that make sense?  It feels like maybe what the hymn writer meant when he penned "mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won".  There is some kind of sharing there.  I can't explain it, but I feel it.  There is history in this prayer---the history of those who have tried and found God's graces to be sure, of those who have depended on Him as the answer for Everything.  There is hope in it too.  Hope that, since the faithful before me have made it through to "peace at the last", I can also.  It's amazing how just a few short words, devoutly written---devoutly spoken, can mean all of that.   But they do.  Thank you, Uncle Charles, for bringing them to life for me.