Rita’s Prayer

Dear Lord, 

I come to you again searching for an answer to a never ending age old problem that constantly confronts us. Will we never learn of our inability to cope with the two eternities known as Yesterday and Tomorrow? Oh, the miseries and heartaches of the Yesterdays that keep driving man to self-destruction. Although we can not undo a single thing we did or said yesterday, the memory lingers like a leach to torture and torment us… the guilt eating at us… consequently tearing us apart. Although the wrongs that were done unjustly to us keep shoving us into a seemingly inescapable whirlpool of self pity, we are not wise enough to see that worry today will not erase them. Worry only tends to magnify the problem. When will we learn that the only feasible solution is to come to Thee with implicit faith in your divine power to carry the burdens of Yesterday for us? Oh, yes… we pray… Oh, How we pray… but do we trust you so little that before the Amen leaves our lips, our minds are cluttered again with the same cares. Help us to face the reality that Yesterday is past. Let us bury it in the same coffin with blunders, its aches and pains. But although Yesterday is past…. gone and forgotten… help us steer clear of the mystery of Tomorrow. Let us know that it is beyond our power to even try to predict the happenings of Tomorrow. I like to think that you made Tomorrow for a special reason called Hope. But most of us spend countless hours fearing the Tomorrow. What will it bring?… Will there be joy or sorrow?… Will it be prosperous or filled with adversities?… What will Tomorrow bring? So… don’t you see what we’ve done? We’ve destroyed the most precious time of all… Today. We have lost Today by dwelling on the regrets of Yesterday and the fears of Tomorrow. Will we ever understand that the sun will rise on a new day each and every morning of our earthly lives? We can cope with this one day… whether the sun shines brightly on our lives or whether the dark clouds hover closely over us… with Your help. We can face anything that comes our way Today. But this one day is all we can manage at one time. For if you add the Yesterdays and the Tomorrows and put them on top of Today, we will surely falter and fall. 

Amen.

Written by Rita Coker

(Laddie found this the week of 10/30/23 right after Rita’s Memorial Service)