Thank you - to Counsellors and Good Friends

 

Thank you - to Counselors and Good Friends

(Number five in a series of eight prayers.)

Loving Father, we live in a time of anxiety and stress. Much of the stress comes from the day-to-day rush that society imposes upon us. Raising children, getting them off to school, keeping up with homework, and driving them to sports events has been the order of the day. It's enough to exhaust the most energetic parent, at times. 

But the stressful situation caused by Covid-19 is not a repeat of other school years. Many children are not seeing their friends in a normal way. Some children are studying at home with one computer shared between two or three students. Some areas of our country have insufficient bandwidth for the normal functioning of "school-at-home."

I bring before you parents, laid-off restaurant workers, former airplane pilots, and millions who are apprehensive about the disappearance of their workplace, Heavenly Father. Some have lost hope. A number want to end their own lives. In these situations, we keep hearing, "Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And, love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:30,31. So we reach out in love to them.

To this end, you have chosen some people with a unique gift. You have scattered counselors among us, people with a kind heart, whose ability to listen, and whose words bring encouragement and comfort. These are people who can "zoom in" on another person's emotions and discern what is shading the contours of their pain. Thank you for the gift of a listening ear and a wise heart. How we need your gifts, Almighty God!

Lord, I pray for those who pick up a phone or attend a suicide-watch line or volunteer at a school board. Remind them of the Holy Spirit, the greatest Comforter of all. May they themselves be comforted, as Paul was in a time of distress. "(by) the Father of Compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so al through Christ our comfort overflows." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5