Let the reign of divine truth, life, and love...

Reflections on a prayer I used to pray with Grammy..."Let the reign of divine truth, life, and love be established in me..."

Let the reign of divine truth rule out of me my false self. May it rule out all doubt about who I really am. Whose I really am. May it rule out of me the need to be perfect. The need to be validated and affirmed by worldly standards. May it remind me of the grace that brought me into existence and keeps me existing. Changing. Evolving. Growing. May it remind me that I am a child of God. That is my identity. No more and no less. May the reign of divine truth rule out of me every lie that I tell myself. Every lie that the world tells me. Every voice in my head that tells me to fear. May this truth settle in my bones- that truth means allowing people to see me for all my flaws and know that they are a part of me but they do not define me. The truth that defines me is that I am a child of God. We are children of God. Let the reign of divine truth be established in me.


Let the reign of divine life rule out of me the ability to choose death as a means of living. May it establish in me the ability and desire to choose life and hope no matter how difficult or foolish the choice may seem. May it rule out of me the false sense of what makes life worth living and enrich me with the beauty of life as it was supposed to be lived- with laughter and love and joy, even in the midst of pain and doubt and confusion. May it establish in me the ability to be fully in this present moment, to remember the past with peace and not regret, the ability to wait for the future with hopeful expectation instead of fear or a desire for control. Let the reign of divine life be established in me.


Let the reign of divine love rule out of me all doubt about my own ability to be loved. May it rule out of me my inability to love my own imperfect, fallible, self, as it helps me to learn to love the imperfections of others. May it soften my ears when loving words are spoken to me and help me to speak loving words to others. May it rule out of me all fear, knowing the perfect love casts out all fear. May it break open my heart if only to know what it feels like to love deeper and more fully. May it fill me to the brim with a love that knows no bounds and overflows, even as is sustains. May it continue to clear my clouded eyes to help me see others and myself as God sees us, knows us, and loves us. May it teach me to love without condition, knowing that reciprocated love is not a guarantee in this life but that we are sustained by God’s love, not validated by others broken human emotion. Let me see the joy of love reflected in the faces of those around me- the love that a mother has for her newborn, the connection between partners of 50 years, the unconditional love that seems to come so easily to little children, and help me to claim that love as the type of love that is available to me, to all, even if only on a small scale, if we would be but open...


Amen.