I never miss deadlines. And I almost missed one this week.
I was having a bad case of writer’s block for a writing assignment and every angle I took felt contrived and incomplete. For days I’d write the beginning of the post and then delete it only to start again. And in the end, what I had before me felt like I was jamming a square peg into a round hole and wondering why it didn’t fit.
At some point, I had to just put the computer down and walk away. I needed some help. So I texted a writer friend for prayers and I asked a writer’s group I am a part of for the same.
I reached out.
We can’t always do it alone.⠀
Though I know we want to.
If we want to live our dream, whatever that is… we have to ask for help. And the place to start is the one who can give us the graces we need most.
And when you feel like you can’t be the one to say the prayer and ask for the graces yourself… when you feel you need someone else to form the words and whisper them in God’s ear…
Reach out and ask someone to pray for you.
It’s better than doing nothing at all.
So this is my prayer today for me, for you, for all who may feel like their big dreams are on hold right now:
“I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what awaits within me
So that what no one has dared to wish for
May for once spring clear
Without my contriving.
If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
But this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
No forcing and no holding back,
The way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
These deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing you as no one ever has,
Streaming through widening channels
Into the open sea.” (Rainer Maria Rilke)
Tell God what you need.
And when you can’t ask a friend to prayer for you until you can find the words.
How can I pray for you today?
