“Hope is only a half-remembered dream behind a closed door.
“All is lost.
“God, this reality is a current so strong I feel certain, at least for now, that it will sweep us all away.
“Could you bless this honesty that feels like despair?
“Can we whisper that, somehow, blessed are we, with spirits starved for what is good?
“Allow our eyes to see the small, sealed space where pain has isolated us.
“We cry: God, help me. I can’t break out of this. So please, break in. Cut through the walls of this hard prison, and flood it with the light of your presence.
“Make prayer as natural as breathing to release to you all that I know and think and feel, and inhale deeply some of your goodness and strength.
“Blessed are we when we realize that suddenly, already, you never leave. You insisted on breathing life and hope and truth into my lungs, filling everything, until the pain dissolves and I am free to move in faith again.
“Blessed are we who have a glimmer of certainty that in that dark expanse, and as sure as day follows night, hope returns.
“P.S. Take a deep breath. Let a yawn come, and another. See what new thing begins. All by itself.”
