Another prayer I wrote (January 2005)

Image from: http://www.treklens.com/gallery/Africa/South_Africa/photo171782.htm

Two years ago, my sister asked me to write a prayer for the publication of the school where she works. The prayer was supposed to be based on the bible passage: Gospel: Mk 1:14-20, which goes:


Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
”This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen. Jesus said to them,
”Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

But following is the prayer I wrote:

Lord, I am a broken-winged bird in many ways, in more ways than I care
to know or count. Yet You love me unconditionally.

I fear so many things: sickness, suffering, anything's being seemingly
out of kilter in my life. But I know You are there through all these,
reaching out to me all the time, willing me to take Your hand and draw
strength from You.

Please build up my faith for oftentimes it appears about to run out.
Be patient with me as I grow in Your love from the knowledge that the
resurrection of Your Son, the glory You bestowed on Him did not come
without trials but was made the more meaningful because of these and
Your unflinching love.

********************************

The prayer hardly conforms to the Bible passage and I cannot understand why it was that which I wrote. But the image, more accurately, the concept, of the broken-winged bird has never left my mind ever since a cousin called my attention to the song sung by one of the black groups in the seventies (Fifth Dimension? Friends of Distinction? Earth, Wind and Fire?). She said then it was her favorite and I still remember the first strains of the song. Though I've never seen an image of it, the thought just stuck somehow.

Only a few minutes ago, I looked for an image in Blackie and found what I have uploaded. One of the comments made on the picture was: "Oh yes, I feel sorry... There is nothing worst for a bird than having a broken wing... But, if he flew away, it is a good news, no?"

Earlier the one who took the picture had captioned it thus: "I was visiting some folks on a farm close to Pretoria, when this Whitefronted Bee-eater with a semi-broken wing come an sit close by us. He really looked hurt. But when we try to help him, he flew up into the trees and disapear (sic).

I hope you feel as sorry for him as I did."