Every time I walk these Woods,
I sense your presence with me
in a powerful and very real way.

May the spirit of hospitality and aloha which characterizes the Hawaiian people spread to those who come offering help

The phone rings. The baby cries.
The school child asks for answers.
The mail arrives. The bills appear.
The laundry piles. The cooking waits.

God of Providence, you are a God of mystery and surprises.
Thank you for the times unexpected gifts have come my way:

May the light of the Holy One fill me and the world with love

Instead, I will ask that Your resolutions be mine.
Your path, my path. Your will, my will.
Let us walk headlong into this new year together.

There is no celebration in my soul.
I turn to You, source of meaning, knower of sorrow.

Creator God, healer of all ills,
I place my health into your hands.
Guide the hand of my surgeon.

My faith is threadbare, worn almost to a whisper.
And yet I need You more than ever.

Now it is over. Our ties severed painfully, or simply faded away from disuse.
We are not what we were.

Can you stop the world for a moment? I need to be alone with you.
No more doing, just being. And feeling like that is enough.

Take my hand. Pull me along, with urgency, if needed.
Let me never stray from the course you’ve set out for me,
even when I cannot see my way through.