"Please let their eyes open in the morning
not to the despair of feeling lost at sea,
but to the familiar play of sunlight
in the leaves outside the window,
the solid sense that she is safe, he is safe, they are safe
on the firm ground of home."
(from an adaptation of A Prayer for My Mother by Rick Kempa)
My heart and my thoughts are with all those afflicted with and affected by Alzheimer's Disease.*
Today's quote is a prayer for them and for us
all.
May we too awake not to despair or feeling lost at sea, but to hope, joy, and beauty, with appreciation for sunlight, trees, and leaves - life's simple and profound pleasures.
Here is the entire prayer:
"Let every moment of every day
break upon them with the dazzle of newness,
the delight of
freshness, and
the peace of the present breath.
Let child-like wonderment rule.
"May the sky look more lovely than she's ever seen.
May the sight of a bird soaring stir the joy he felt
when birds came by the hundreds to his feeder.
"Please let them forget that they do not remember.
Let them lose somehow the torment of
losing one’s mind.
"Let there be insight
in the one page that,
over and over for days,
they read for the first time,
never getting beyond.
"Let the living past be vibrant in his dreams, her dreams, their dreams
each night,
with mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, beloved spouses, dearest
friends
at their sides, showering them with love.
"Please let their eyes open in the morning
not to the despair of feeling lost at sea,
but to the familiar play of sunlight
in the leaves outside the window,
the solid sense that she is safe, he is safe, they are safe
the firm ground of home."
With reverence,
Charlene
* November is Alzheimer's Awareness Month. I thought it helpful and healthy to shift and expand our focus from the top news concerns onto other
important issues. I'll be reading this prayer as the invocation at Summit Greens Women's Club meeting today, where the topic is "The ABCs of Alzheimer's." Into all our concerns, may we bring hope, wisdom, love, compassion, reverence, courage, and strength. May we use our imagination to vision solutions and ways that good can come from every challenge. And may we look for and see beauty in unexpected places.
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