Saturday, November 3, 2012

Dear God,

You continue to bring people into our lives that teach us more about you.  We agreed to have a rotary exchange person come to stay in our home for a few days.  Today when he arrived, we asked him lots of questions and listened to him as he told us about his native home and religion.  The more I listened to him, the more I realized how in tune I must stay in order to be close to you.

Our exchange friend is from Pakistan.  He is Muslim.  As I listened to him share the important value of his family, his faith, and his commitment to help others through polio eradication and flood relief, I thought about my own need to help others.  I thought about the ways you nudge me to help suffering people.  It is my faith, my relationship to you, that inspires me to do the work of hope, to reach out to others bringing hope, comfort, and peace.

On the way to dinner at a Rotarian's home, I told Awaisa how the Muslim call to prayer while we visited the Holy Land in the 1990's reminded me to pray to you, to give thanks, to pray for my own need to live a greater life of faith, and to pray for peace for the peoples, all the peoples of that region.

I am grateful for the gentle reminder to pray more, to be active in my own Christian faith, and to work together with peoples from around the world to make for peace and harmony for all.

Thank you,
dearest God,
for strangers
who teach me
more about faith
and our need
to remain close
to you.
Sway me
to your side
when I stray
or forget
or neglect you.
Forgive me,
I pray.
Thank you
for Awaisa.

Always, Andrea