I pray that our hearts may be softened.
I pray, not to an absent God, but to a humankind that has lost its humanity.
My prayer is a hopeful imploring, a desperate beseeching:
it is not in God’s hands, but ours.
My prayer is a stark question:
Will we ever be able to actually love each other?
Our ancestors watch through our eyes and our children, some yet unborn, watch through our memories.
They watch our wars, our pillage of the earth.
They see our hearts fill with hatred when confronted with someone outside our cherished group.
They wonder why we can’t just talk to each other, try to understand each other, fight against the hardening of our hearts.
They wonder why we can’t try.
To them, my prayer takes the form of an apology.
I am sorry. I will not let my heart turn to ice.
My prayer is a request for guidance:
Show me how to be led by this frostbitten heart.
Allow me to let it thaw.
embracing samsara 