A Prayer for Maycember

Getting through (and savoring?) the hustle

Most weeks, after I write the main post, a few days later, I send an accompanying prayer related to the topic. I am doing in this in part for me: I always am on the hunt for more written prayers. I use written prayers often in my work to pray for larger groups, but I also love written prayers for my personal piety. Sometimes it is nice when I do not have the words to use someone else’s.

Oooh, Lord, it’s here.

Maycember.

The graduations, the parties, the weddings, the awards banquets, the trophies and medals. The end-of-school year sprint to summer. The chock-full weekends that cannot seem to hold anything else, and then we add just one more thing.

Most of this is fun. It’s celebratory. It’s recognizing transitions and milestones. It’s recognizing where we have been and where we are going.

But, if we are honest, it can be hard to treasure these moments. Sometimes we just get through—in part, because we are too busy worrying about the next thing, and in part, because there is bitterness in all of the sweetness. Maycember reminds us that time steadily marches on, that kids grow up, that relationships change. Nothing stands still.

Not that we want time to stand still permanently, but maybe could it, for just a minute or five or sixty? So we can catch our breath and realize the beautiful lives we created (received?), soak it in, and be right here, not ten steps ahead.

This is a plea to remind us that we can choose to savor as much as we can choose to hustle. And it is also a thanksgiving for the fullness, even when it feels like too much. What is too much fullness if not abundance?

Amen.