Friday, March 6, 2026

Dear God,

What can we do when war comes?  What can we do when we feel helpless and lost?  What can we do when we don't know what to do?

When there is great wrongdoing in our nation and world, I want to scream and cry and rally to change things.  I want to save people from suffering.  I want to right the wrong.  I want desperately to make things different.  But I am only one person, one woman.

While I may have great unanswered questions, one thing I do know for sure is that you are present in the cosmos and right here beside me.  And if you are right here beside me, you must assuredly be right next to my neighbor next door and in far-off places halfway around the world. You can't only be with me unless you are with every person.

I cling to faith that tells me that all people are beloved.  It is the only way faith works for me.  I have to believe that warmongers are loved too.  Part of that faith nudges me to consider my own nature during tragic and difficult times.  Am I caring for my neighbor?  Am I loving to all people?  Am I speaking out for justice for all?  Am I doing my part to bring hope, mercy and peace?  Sometimes I learn that it is not only the warmonger that needs to change but also me.

Blessed God,

I am

only human

and I

want to crawl

into a cocoon

to save myself.

But you 

call me

to love

my neighbor.

You ask me

to look into

my own life, 

to see

my own truth

even as

I look

at my neighbor

and find fault.

O God,

in every

grave situation,

help us

to crawl

to you first.

Love, Andrea