January 21, 2021

Patient God, we are a people who have gotten used to quick answers and getting our way.  Help us to understand that important things take time and effort.  May we be willing to make the effort needed to get us beyond the place where we find ourselves.  It will take a long time for us to get beyond the damage that the pandemic and our own actions have caused.  Help us to take the important small steps that are required to begin (or continue) the journey you have set before us.  May we try to see the best intentions in those around us and look to ways to support and love each other.  Give us the patience to wait for the results of hard work today, knowing that our troubles will not simply go away because we wish them to be gone.  May we work hard in dong all we are asked to respond to the many challenges that are ahead of us and be willing to sacrifice our comfort or desires in order to beat the pandemic, and the other troubles that are before us.  May we focus on how to respond in love and compassion toward one another and find ways to build a better reality.  All this we ask in your name.  Amen