New Hôm Nay

prayer for the day

I saw this poem today and wanted to remember it. 


Real Presence


Let my heart be a wide and welcome harbor
where my children come to rest.
May these arms stretch wide and strong
to hold his fear, her hurt, their tattered sense of self.


May there be a solidness within me
on which their pain may crash
and recede
and I remain.


Let my presence be an island to them
in storm-tossed seasons,
rising up from troubled waters to offer
shelter, respite, and firm dry ground.


May they find in me
a haven to tend to battered souls
until the day the certainty of such solid ground
launches them to sail uncharted waters unafraid.


-Tom McGrath