Tiny Ting (one of my cats) is missing. Please pray for her safe return.
I ask because the past few weeks, at an intensive course on Spiritual Direction, I learned more about something I preached about recently: being bold and honest in prayer. The classes I took and the people I met (Mennonite, Methodist, Brethren) emphasized an open prayer life. Also during class and spiritual direction, I saw that I felt guilty about praying for my cat to come back; it somehow seemed disloyal to those who suffer enormously and for whom prayer seems to do little or nothing. When there is blood on the floor in Orlando, how can I pray about a cat? Can I cry for her?
Some of the warmest well-wishes for my training came from non-Christian friends. This too teaches the mysterious workings of kindness in healing the world in large and small ways. These kindnesses heal the fissures in our humanity.
The prayer of my heart is this: God, give me my cat back. Now. Amen.