Prayer for peace within a family

What a racket we make sometimes.
Or, in silence, how many cuts we carve into one another.
There can be no peace, not with us arrayed against each other like enemies,
like armies restless for a war.

We horde our hurts, the slights we attribute to one another, like a dragon hording gold.
The worst treasure of all, that’s our family fortune.
I turn to You in this, our hour of regrouping,
our pause between battles.

We need something new. We need fresh forgiveness.
Teach us to see each other with new eyes,
eyes that focus on the future and the ways we might mend.

May peace pursue us recklessly, thoroughly,
as doggedly as we argue, as loudly as we cry.
Turn us toward one another to see the hurting humans we are.
Oh God, be present in our family. Make peace possible.

Amen.