A Prayer for When the Day Feels Heavy

Holy One,

I wake up

and the heaviness comes right away.

My mind goes to what is wrong,

what is missing,

what feels too much.

Then I open the curtain

and see the sun rising through a red tree,

its leaves turning,

the light shining through them

in a way that stops me.

Let this brightness stay with me.

Let it loosen the gloom

and give me enough clarity

to step into the day.

And as I walk through the streets,

through places worn down and overlooked,

help me look for even a small trace

of the color I saw in that tree,

a spark of life,

a bit of truth,

something that reminds me

the world is not finished yet.

Amen.