O Lord, our Lord,

how wonderful is your name in all the world.

Your glory shines and is proclaimed to the highest heavens

in the faces and the words of the children.

Naaman listened to the ("unnamed") little girl

(well he listened to his unnamed wife who listened to the unnamed girl)

and he eventually found health and strength

and perhaps even a shot at peace.

I pray, and I invite others to pray with me,

that our leaders today

(and we, ourselves - we are all leading someone somewhere)

would show the same wisdom.

 

 Sorry to be a little slow with this one.  We were at camp and it is just a hassle to connect up there.  You have to climb a steep hill in the woods across the road, or walk around the bay and climb a hill there, and then sometimes the call drops in the middle and you have to start over, and it just looked like a lot to type into my phone.  So - home and using the computer.

 

And this thought/prayer comes after my experience handing out flag stickers to the children along the July 4 parade route.  It's in some ways such a demeaning experience for them.  They sit on the curb and people throw mostly cheap candy into the road in front of them.  I'd walk up holding out a flag sticker on my finger and say "Flag sticker?" and they would just light up and say "Yes, please" and "Can I have one?" and (prompted by parents!) "Thank you."

 

And I thought any leader who doesn't just drop everything and focus on feeding and clothing and educating and healing and caring for the children really isn't worth following anywhere.  Unfortunately that does include me - I go along living my comfortable life while children struggle and suffer.

 

So anyway -  sorry to be a little late with this.  Here's a bonus holdover from the week - the SPAM prayer for evening. 

 

Search our hearts and minds, O Lord.

Preserve us in your grace. 

And when at last the evening comes

May we rest in peace.