Poem/Prayer for Worship
by Thom Shuman

prayer

prayer

some day,
i would like to learn how to pray:

oh, i can hammer words together
to make a nice box
for you to fill
with what i am sure i need:
   but i falter
   when i try to climb out
   of that hole of hopelessness
   i find myself in;

i can bring you
my scrapbook filled
with all the stories
of the brokeness of the world:
   but the pages
   of my dreams, my fears,
   my fickle faith
   are out in the trashcan;

i can race to you
to tattle on
all my friends and neighbors
so you will know where all the mud-stains
on their lives come from:
   but in my haste
   to get to you first,
   i stumble over
   the shadowed secrets
   in my soul.

some day,
i would like to learn how to pray,
Listening God.    

(c) 2006  Thom M. Shuman 

(Comments to Thom at tmshuman@fuse.net.)

http://www.occasionalsightings.blogspot.com
Greenhills Community Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio