November Prayer

Dear Lord, may we live well in this November.

Help us accept the places in our lives that are lacking: in community, in health, in normalcy. In financial means, in good food, in extravagant Christmas gifts. May we learn that scarcity breeds gratitude. In a season of want, let us overflow with appreciation for what remains.

May we look to the needs of one another. Give us eyes to see where others hurt; grant us hearts that break alongside theirs. May we take time to listen, and seek to understand. May we stand at the edge of ourselves and do the hard work of building bridges to one another.

May we be still, Father. Unhurried in a season of hustle. Deliberate in our conversations with one another. May we be still with ourselves, still with one another, still with you. And as we linger, fill us with peace and joy. Calm the troubled waters of our hearts, and give us rest.

Make us wise, Father. Wise enough to bite our tongues. Wise enough to embrace. Wise enough to welcome those whose gender, color, religion, political view, or any other attribute does not resemble our own. And as we live in community, may we learn from one another. May we grow wiser with the insights of diversity.

Let us have hope. Not in the end of pandemics, the settling of political issues, the warm feelings of Christmas, or any other circumstance. No, let us have hope that is anchored firmly in the bedrock of who you are. Hope in your unchanging nature. Hope in your extravagant goodness. Hope in a future that will never be hampered or hurried by events here below. May we be people of hope as you are a God of hope.

This is our prayer for a broken and hurting November. May this month leave its mark on us. May we move on from here changed. May we let the hard places do their work to soften our hearts and widen our view. Let us not waste the struggle, nor the opportunity to become all we can be because of it.

May we live November well.