Prayers

Woke this morning to a very loud noise. I was sleepy and stumbling toward the coffee pot. It crossed my mind briefly that it sounded like a gunshot. Then I thought it was just the highway in the distance, sound travels further in the cold morning air.

Later in the morning, my husband came back in and told me there were police cars and tape and ambulances on the street behind us. A man blew his brains out in his backyard. He was 46 years old. I did not know him, but I did wave to him when I went on my walks around the neighborhood.

I don't know if it was because of a loss of a job or the details. I do know that the media is adding fuel to the fire on an already tense time for so many people by the steady stream of reporting on the economy and loss of jobs (which is real, of course). But we are just bombarded to death with the "bad news." Couple that with Christmas approaching and I assume it's just too much for some people.

So, I light candles for us all today.

My heart goes out to the man and his family and so many others like him who must have been in despair. Just the news that the gunshot I heard took the life of someone at that moment was enough to double me over in tears. My husband and I, too, are experiencing some temporary financial setbacks right now, and he said let's just remind ourselves to keep this all in perspective and focus on the things we still do have and not what we have lost.

That's the way we get through some tough times. Focus on what is still good, what remains. The more we do that, the better things are able to become. Perhaps he had no support.

Let us focus our prayers and practice sending waves of love and support into the world this season. We all need it.