TOMBSTONE PRAYER

If you can still read the words on this tombstone,
if the rain, the snow, the cold and the heat,
haven’t worn the words away, know that I was
buried here. You are standing near
my last soft footprint. And if you have time,
close your eyes and listen. Listen to my loud
dance steps. They’re probably missing a beat,
but that’s me dancing up a storm
on the dance floor of heaven.

BRONZE OUTDOOR SCULPTURES OF ANNAPOLIS - DO YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?

RAIN

Rain, gray drops of water,
the copper gutter pinging
splashes of sound upwards,
water bursting apart,
but just for a second.
Then the slow stream
of downward water,
down the siding of my house,
soaking into the neglected
soil of my soul. Lord,
too much of my life
is too much rushing,
not enough remembering, except,
when I stop to watch the rain.

© Andy Costello, 2007

FILL IN THE BLANK

[Self Test Number 6]

If you really cared about me you would do the following:

1) _____________________________
2) _____________________________
3) _____________________________
4) _____________________________
5) _____________________________
6) _____________________________
7) _____________________________
8) _____________________________
9) _____________________________
10) ____________________________

Let’s be honest don’t we all have an invisible list like this for every relationship?

Doesn’t everyone expect the other to fill in the blank spaces in their life?

© Andy Costello, 2007

RRRRR!

Rejection:
made a fool of ….

Resentment:
because of what happened….

Reactions:
feeling anger in my body…

Response:
walking away from you in silence….

Return:
asking you for forgiveness….

© Andy Costello - 2007

FAITH, HOPE AND  CHARITY

God, today
I pray for three gifts:
faith, hope and charity.

Faith to catch glimpses
of your presence and your plan
in everything and everyone
I meet this day.

Hope to continue rowing
as I get tired or grouchy
of everything and everyone
I meet this day.

Charity to receive a Breath of
your Spirit of love and kindness
for everything and everyone
I meet this day.

© Andy Costello, 2007

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Lord, give me an attitude of gratitude,
a feeling of thanksgiving,
for all these wonderful people,
for these wonderful gifts,
who mix and mingle, whom I meet
as I walk down the corridors of my life.

Lord, give me an attitude of gratitude,
a feeling of thanksgiving,
so that all these wonderful people will know
I am grateful for their presence
as wonderful gifts in all the wonderful rooms
I enter each day of my life. Amen.

© Andy Costello, 2007