Fire Prayer

with attendant billow

Okay folks, this one my ring a little strange. I typed it, pretty much as I thought it -- Live.

I am not a smoker. I do, however, indulge in a cigarette maybe once every other decade (usually when camping around a fire.) I smoke a cigar a little more frequently… maybe one every four or five years.

Recently I was given a small set of mild (?) cigars. I was waiting for a time to indulge. My wife is out of town, and it seemed like a good night for an outdoor smoke.

(Beyond that, it’s just a little strange to air personal worship for the world to see. Let’s pray this is useful to someone.)

Here then is a prayer I entertained while sitting in my backyard by night, bathed in humidity and moon light, cricket sounds, and billowing clouds proceeding from my mouth.

---

Fire Prayer

LORD

Make my mind a place that pleases YOU.
Make of my thoughts, an offering.
My tongue, a fit place for praise.

May the thoughts I entertain of women
be a tribute to the glory of my wife.
And to Eve, and to Mary and my

many sisters

And my daughters
Both by flesh, and of spirt,

May I honor my mother and my mothers
and the one now under may care.

May my mind be a fit sanctuary
for the maker of my mind.

May the sounds i pull into my ears
be music to YOU

From the crickets, to the distant sounds of cars.
And (May) the white noise trickle of the fountain

Be like a sliver from the River of Life

May this smoke, gliding
over my tongue, and into my nose
(even if I am in error)
Be like an incense of rest.
My I rest my soul in you

Wash me
Wash me

Clean me, clean me
Transform and fill

May the sights I see,
in these days i have left, be
Bigger, deeper, more full of light
than my fading eyes can see

May I taste of your goodness in the land of the living.

Carve into my being
a cavernous temple

Fill it with your light and glory

Let my tongue and typing fingers speak
what is true
and good and noble

May I, like the moon
wading through the sky reflect

Your light and kindness

May I be a light
in a sea of lights
make of me my namesake -- a Kirk

A church
A refuge for the Saints.

Make me a holy bride.