This morning during my morning meditation, The Lord’s Prayer kept coming to my mind. In the bible, Jesus tells us this is the perfect prayer and as I look at what we are going through right now, I would have to say I agree.
Here is how this prayer is helping me deal with the fear, uncertainty, anger, and anxiety I feel from time to time.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Jesus tells us to love God above all else. So that establishes this from the get go.
Thy Kingdom come Thy Will Be Done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Thy will be done. This means we must surrender to “what is”. Not what we think it should be. Surrender is not easy to do. Surrender gives up control, and we as humans, especially as Americans like our control. We fight for our rights and freedoms and being asked to surrender sounds like it is weak and quite un-American. But that surrender is what brings freedom. It forces us to focus on the “what now” instead of the “why is this happening?’ or the ultimate victim statement: “why me?”.
I have to trust in God’s plan. Do I think He caused this? Of course I don’t but I also believe we have been given the opportunity to slow down, be still and know that He is Lord. And if we actually take that time, we might actually hear what he is calling us to become. We simply cannot do that when we are falsely assuming we are “running the show” we call our lives.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Did we wake up today? Are we safe? Do we have shelter, water, food? Is this true of those we love? If the answer is yes, then this prayer has already been answered. A simple thank you might be worth uttering. If not, lift these petitions
to God.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
This one is HUGE!
Because the second command Jesus gives us is to “Love our neighbor as ourself” and this during this pandemic we are truly seeing those living according to “me” and those living according to “we.”
How are you managing through the course of this pandemic?
Have you rushed to the store to hoard goods to make sure YOU and YOURS have more than what you need? Or have you taken just enough so that others can have some too?
Are you staying home and away from others, so that the virus doesn’t spread or are you trying to find loopholes to get out of the house because you are bored, lonely or, feeling stir crazy?
Are you congregating with friends even though you KNOW better?
Are you putting your desires ahead of the SAFETY and GREATER GOOD of all of us?
On the flip side, are we sitting back and judging others?
Are we saying things that may hurt others?
Are we holding anger and grudges against those who are acting against what we are all being asked to do?
We need to be praying for them, and for ourselves.
We need to be sending them love and try to keep shining light into this darkened period. Sometimes it is easier to sit back and judge rather than to try and understand the struggles of others.
We need to ask forgiveness.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Right now, we are being asked to sacrifice a lot for the safety of each other.
Our brain, ego, or the enemy works overtime to convince us :
-Why this is so hard.
-Why this isn’t fair.
-Why just a a short visit won’t hurt.
-Why taking the last two packages of toilet paper is better than taking just one.
We need to pray not to be lead into this kind of thinking and to pray to receive the strength necessary to keep us from acting on those thoughts or from tempting others to join us.
Sherrie Dunlevy is an author, speaker and Inspirationista. For more information, to order her best selling book “How Can I Help?” or to hire Sherrie to speak at your conference, workshop or special event go to www.SherrieDunlevy.com or contact her at SherrieDunlevy@gmail.com
