Prayer #51: Antic-cipation

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you ...

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same ...

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run ...

Then -- I predict -- you'll need a Valium!

{select verses from "If" by Rudyard Kipling, with some modification by Italian Mother Syndrome}

Prayer #51: Antic-cipation

Change is the only constant. So you think I'd be used to it by now.

But just because I'm used to things changing doesn't mean I'm yet accustomed to the changed things. That takes time. And patience. And faith. And fortitude. And did I mention patience?

So ...

For the changes others force upon me,
And for the ones I design with accountability ...

For the changes wrought by others' indecision or confusion,
And for the ones wrought by MY indecision and confusion ...

For the changes spurred by my lethargy,
And for the ones my responses set in motion ...

For the changes I fidget off onto others' shoulders,
And for the ones I accept, some with reluctance, others with courage ...

For all these changes that insist on changing, just as I start to grasp them ...

I ask for grace on this roller coaster ride, and pray I find You in the liminal spaces.

In the name of the One who laughs when I plan --
Amen.