Words of Light and Hope from Tony Hawes (Pt 2)

Words of Light and Hope from Tony Hawes.
Grandad’s Prayers continued……

Then we were quiet, my Grandad and I.
He was watching something far away, and I was thinking about all he had said, about rocks and trees and grass and birds
and flowers.

Finally, I asked him to tell me about the prayers of people……
Grandad smiled and ruffled my hair.
“People pray some of the most wonderful prayers of all. Bending down to smell a flower, can be a prayer. Quietly watching the sunrise, feeling the slow turning of the earth and saying hello to a new day, is one of the oldest prayers.
Standing in a snowy wood on a winter’s day and watching your breath becoming part of the breath of the world, is a way to pray.
Making music, or painting a picture, can be a prayer. Holding hands round the table with family, remembering all that holds us
together, and giving thanks, is one of the greatest prayers……”
“Sometimes,” said Grandad, “people pray when they are sad, or sick, or lonely, or have a problem too big to carry by themselves.
They may say words they have learned from their fathers or mothers, or grandads or great grandmothers. But often they must find
their own words. The important thing to remember is that words will always be right, if they are real and true, and come from the heart……
“Are our prayers answered, Grandad?” I asked.
Grandad smiled, “If we listen very closely, a prayer is often its own answer…… Like the trees and the winds and the waters, we pray because we are here – not to change the world, but to change ourselves.
Because it is when we change ourselves, that the world is changed……”

Douglas Wood

How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of
your hands! In your love you have given us
the power to behold the beauty of your world
in all its splendour. In your goodness you have
made us able to hear the music of the world.
A divine song sings through all creation. Amen.

David Adam, The Rhythm of Life