Dear Friends,
The Peace of Christ be with you all. In view of this past weekend’s display of political violence and the continually mounting tensions in many of your congregations and communities, we wanted to share this brief meditation penned by Howard Thurman in his Meditations of Heart (1953). We hope you find it as we have, full of reminders of God’s grace, hope, and steadfast love.
“Our Little Lives, Our Big Problems”
Howard W Thurman
(You can also hear Thurman read aloud this meditation here)
Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Your altar!
The quietness in Your temple of silence again and again rebuffs us:
For some there is no discipline to hold them steady in the waiting,
And the minds reject the noiseless invasion of Your spirit.
For some there is no will to offer what is central in the thoughts—
The confusion is so manifest, there is no starting place to take hold.
For some the evils of the world tear down all concentrations
And scatter the focus of the high resolves.
War and the threat of war has covered us with heavy shadows, the days big with foreboding,
the nights crowded with frenzied dreams and restless churnings.
We do not know how to do what we know to do.
We do not know how to be what we know to be.
Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Your altar!
Brood over our spirits, Our Father.
Blow upon whatever dream you have for us
that there may glow once again upon our hearts the light from Your altar.
Pour out upon us whatever our spirits need of shock, of life, of release
That we may find strength for these days—
Courage and hope for tomorrow.
In confidence we rest in Your sustaining grace
Which makes possible triumph in defeat, gain in loss, and love in hate.
We rejoice this day to say:
Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Your altar!
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