As many of you may know my partner’s mother suffers from Alzheimer’s. Although it is tragic to all, including the families of those afflicted with this insufferable disease, I believe it is particularly tragic where her mother is concerned because she was the most intellectually astute and artistically creative person I knew. She composed her own puppet theater for children, she knew the arts, and she was a thinker of many things true to her Unitarian Universalist tradition.

I was shown a poem written thirty years ago by her the thoughts of which not only reflect the essence of who she was before this onslaught of tragedy but also is a poem to which most – even the Doubting Thomases among us – can relate, have contemplated and at one time or another shared . It is entitled:

Prayer

We seek Thee, Lord.

Through the darkness of doubt and confusion,
We reach out to Thee,
Longing to know that Thou art surely there.

We seek help in times of trouble,
Strength in our weakness
And a deeper sense of purpose for our lives.

O Mysterious Power at the heart and center
of this universe,
All around us and within,
Yet silent, invisible, inscrutable,
Teach us how to know Thee.

In the silence, speak to us through the voice
of the human spirit,
In our alone-ness, touch us through the communion
of shared lives,
In Our despair, bring hope with the promise
of new tomorrows,
In our doubt, reassure with the law and order of this, Thy world.

So may we feel anew the wonderful miracle
of life
Which recompenses struggle and makes all
successes joyful.
So may we glimpse through the darkness the
light of Thy true presence
And grow, day by day, in our knowledge of Thee.

We seek Thee, Lord,
And, in seeking, find.

To that I say Amen!