Remembrance of love

Today I make a prayer for our world.  Our world struggles, Lord, it struggle to find its identity, to decided what, exactly, it wants of its people and for its people.  We have become a land of unknowns, a land of forgottens.  Lost, we wander, searching for safety only to find a shattered existence of what once was, what no longer can be envisioned.  The fighting has spilled out of control for the fighting now controls our thoughts as intentions are swayed toward victory.  What victory is to be gained when our identity as God's people has been lost?  Our world, Lord, beckons for your love, it hungers for your peace and thirsts for your joy.  Our world starves and though many cry out, most will remain unfed because, as a people, Lord, we have forgotten how to listen, forgotten how ask for help, forgotten to accept the help provided and the love offered.  Many have gone before us, Lord, whom we must not forget for they have become causalities of a war derived from hatred, derived from ignorance, derived from fear.  This war continues, Lord, it had become bigger than our beings because every human struggle, every human angst frayed from this war and now it spirals, quickly spirals, how do we stop this spiraling?  Is it possible to level out our existence?  Too many people have died not knowing your love, not knowing their worth, not knowing how much you value their person.  We are much more than our actions would tell for right now, our actions speak volumes of anger and rage.  Defined by the obligations of this world, we have become desensitized to violence, desensitized to the struggles of others; the needs of others are not of our concern as we wrestle with which game to watch on tv or which concert to attend.  There are people hurting, actually we are all hurting for intimately we are connected as Your children, yet we pretend others do not matter, that this fight is not our fight.  We have lost our identity, we know not who we are for in the midst of our struggles we have wrongly identified our enemy; we ignore our neighbor, we label groups of people, but never do we look internally, never do we stop to listen with our heart.  Hatred is real, it is debilitating for it is so exhausting to hate as it consumes the body, mind and spirit.  Hatred is evil's play toy for it entices even the most loving with its ring of disgust.  At what cost are we willing to hate?  Lives are being lost, violent drive bys leave families broken, depression finds its way into homes whereby suicide looks like the only way out whereby it leaves the remaining members to live with haunting questions of "Why did I not see this coming?  Why couldn't I show him/her more love?", brave military personnel suffer from PTS disorder unconsciously remembering the horrific actions of war.  When will this stop?  When will we learn that our actions affect others, our actions reflect our person, they reflect how we feel about ourselves.  As a people, our actions of hatred, of neglect, of violence, of disgust paint for us a portrait of a people hurting from within, struggling to discover a direction, discover goodness and love.  We are hurting, Lord, we have lost our way, please help us to discover new paths; a path of hope would be most welcoming that we may tread together to find other paths which may lead to peace.  Many have gone before us, Lord, and we pray they have not gone in vain for it is our responsibility to learn from our past that we may pave a future for the next generation.  We will always struggle, we will always disagree but we need not hate, we need not fight for we are a family, Lord, and wish to become a family bonded by your love.  Today, Lord, we remember all those who have died, all those who have become casualties in a war created by pride, stemming from hatred, may this day reminded us that ego only stands in the way of the heart and senseless violence demeans the intellect.  Lost in actions we strive to be rescued, we long to feel your love and know your joy.  We hunger, Lord, and while we know of your promise to feed us, pride remains our obstacle for hatred has bound our hands that we may not feed ourselves.   Inspired by your love, Lord, we must learn to feed others, to nourish their souls that they my thrive and blossom into actions of love.  To evaluate our situation we must first accept your love that we may share this marvelous gift with others and suppress the monster of hatred and violence.  This world need not be a struggle, this world need not know so much violence, so much hatred all it need know is love, Your love.  And so I pray today for identity for a world which knows not who it is and where it is going.  Today I pray that we cut back the weeds and begin a new path, together, and accept our gift as Your children.  Evil is real, it quickly spreads, it disguises itself well but it is the evil we must battle not one another for together we are children of a loving God and are called to act with love.  Today, let us remember our call to love and the love shared with those who have gone before us.  Let this love pave our future as we walk together in the present inspired by Christ's actions, by Christ's words to, "Love one anther as I have loved you".  Love, in its purest, most simplest, unconditional form... it is that simple...love.