This is another day, O Lord.
I know not what it will bring, but make me ready for whatever it will be.
If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely.
If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly.
If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently.
And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly.
Make these words more than words,
and give me the spirit to love and to endure.
This is one of my favorite prayers from the St. Mark’s Prayerbook, adapted from a collect in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. I usually send this prayer to people who are struggling with serious health issues, including those recovering in the hospital, but I believe it resonates for all of us now.
We are facing the unpredictable; we feel a loss of control. But of course that is the way life always is, isn’t it? We are not facing a new reality, we are facing a reality that has actually always been. Our precariousness is just unusually evident to us this spring. So pray this prayer; share it with others. And may you find that spirit to love and to endure.
-- The Rev. Barbara Talcott, St. Mark’s School
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