Prayer for the Planet

Dear God,

Thank you for this day. Thank you for this gift of life. Thank you for this opportunity to encounter and experience all it has to offer. It is a privilege.

God, I witness the world and see the atrocities near and far. It can be overwhelming. The violence, the poverty, the oppression; as well as the anxiety, greed, and insecurity that feeds it. I am an instrument of your will. You created me and knew my name before my family. You counted each hair on my head and more. I trust that I am here not by accident but because for a purpose. May I be an instrument of your will.

God before I was a box or category, you made me as a part of your Creation. I was blessed by the trials and the tribulations that I endured. You loved me through all my moments...the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. They made me stronger, wiser, and kinder. For this, I am grateful.

God, I do not believe that you created me only to suffer. For though there are trials that I endure, I trust in your plan. I do not believe you created me only to live a life of misery, suffering, and death. I trust in your timing and in your guidance. For though we are about to embark on some of the greatest challenges our species endured...I believe in your timing.

God, you made me not as a separate entity but as someone living in connection with the whole. I feel it when I walk outside and hear the birds singing. I feel it in the sunlight that shines on my crown and the breeze that blows across my cheeks and hair. I sense the world around me. People near and far are disconnected from the beauty of the whole. They do not see themselves as part of something greater. Many of them do not see value in what was given to them and are willing to overlook the blessings and privileges afforded them. May I not act as a judge, to neither vilify or condemn, but to live as an example of what is also possible.

Please bless the work of my hands and imagination. May I walk in oneness and soundness of body and mind. May I never lose connection with my humanity. May I have the courage to do difficult things. I ask for guidance and wisdom as I work to resolve the things that I can change and embrace those that I can't. Lead me not into despair and desolation but into prosperity and health. When I forget that all things...good and bad...happen for a reason...I ask for friendly reminders.

Today we honor the Earth and recognize her importance. Truly, you are amazing, because you created us as we are and gave us the opportunity to come together. You made us with our faults not to punish us but to bring us closer in connection to ourselves, each other, and to you. I am worthy of love because you loved me first. You taught us stories and gave us leaders that we can look to for guidance. May I live a life that not only honors the thought that you put into my creation, but that serves others too.

God, I ask that you guide those who see the truth and who bear testament to it. Bless the peacemakers, who seek to foster respect and understanding. Bless the warriors, who protect our homes and lands. Bless the workers, who keep the fabrics of our society going. Bless our healers, for they care for our wounded and sick. Bless our farmers, who toil our soil. Bless the conservationists, who work to preserve and replenish what once was lost. Bless the poets, the writers, the artists...for they take lemons and make them into lemonade. Bless the scholars and the scientists, as they work to help us understand the miracle and this opportunity before us. Bring these efforts together in collaboration. Remind us that we are dependent on one another.

One day God I will go back to you. I pray that that time is none too soon, but may I have the courage to live every day so that I may look myself in the mirror and say that I am proud. Even in times of struggle, may I continue to be a witness to love, faith, and hope. Bestow this love to our planet and the people and beings who call it home.

We are all aching, God. We humans are a species at war with itself, oh God. You created us so that we may learn and love one another. In the moments when all seems lost, remind me that there is always something we can do. Guide us and shift us in understanding. Help us to change the things we cannot accept, and to embrace the things that cannot be changed.

God, may we look to our past for guidance and wisdom. Our elders got many things wrong but they also got many things right. May their wisdom and perseverance pull us through. They are not separate from but live in us. Their hopes, dreams, and prayers for us still live on in everything we are and in what we do. Give us the courage to let go of what no longer serves us and to embrace the things that do. Guide us into prosperity and health.

Bless the fires that cleanse and make room for new life. Bless the waters that nourish it and help it flow. Bless the earth that remains strong beneath our feet. Bless the wind that blows around us. Bless the animals and the plants that not only nourish us but also entertain and teach. May we learn to see nature not as an entity to be tamed or vilified, but as something worthy of loving and learning from. May we remember that we too are a part of nature. That just as we are dependent on other life, that they in turn are reliant on us.

God, help us to understand that to wage a war against Creation is to wage a war against ourselves. May we awaken to the legacy of empire and conquest that leads us closer to ruin. May we have the strength to pursue what is possible. May we have the humanity to love and embrace others. May we have the creativity and resourcefulness to forge new paths ahead. Give us the courage not to ignore our challenges but to meet them with grace and nuance.

I ask that you help us realize that we ourselves are a reflection of you. The work that we are doing is only possible because it comes from Source. I ask that you help us see divinity in every one, in everything, in every time, in every space, in every connection.

Thank you again in this opportunity. Lead me into community with those who not only sympathize but also see our missions as one and the same. May I be granted wisdom and discernment in even my smallest routines. May I be granted grace for my shortcomings. May I have the courage and humility to grant the same to others.

May I learn to embrace the value of all I encounter.

Thank you,

Amen.