God.

We are constantly aware of numbers.
How many cases, how many shifts,
What trends, what patterns, what curve.

How many and how much and how often build our anxiety and intensity,
sometimes so much that we cannot put one thought with another.
Sometimes so much that we cannot put one conversation with another,
one breath with another.

We are grateful for our co-workers, God, who understand the numbers.
We are grateful for our leaders who exercise their wisdom and diligence.
We are grateful for our system which has worked hard,
together, for minutes and hours and days and weeks.

And yet we still worry.

So today, God, I ask for peace that makes no sense, the peace that comes from you.

In the middle of a storm,
the peace that allows us to concentrate on holding on.
In the middle of a chaotic shift,
the peace that allows us to see and help the patient in front of us.
In the middle of loneliness at home,
the peace that allows us to hear and offer encouragement.
In the middle of our fatigue, the peace that allows us to offer hope to the co-worker next to us, behind the mask.

God, what we read is that the peace that passes understanding will guard our minds and hearts in Christ.

So we ask that you will guard our minds and hearts, protect us from uncertainty and anxiety as we do our work.
And thank you that you’ve been doing that all along.

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

+++

This was my prayer on April 13, 2020 at our hospital. It’s good to remember what we asked, to remember the peace we did have, to remember that we are here now. Most of us. Published in God. We Still Need You. A Year of Pandemic Prayer and Practice from a Hospital Chaplain.