So, I wanted to take a moment over coffee to ask a favor of you dear reader. As you are hearing the cute phrase throughout today “May the Fourth be with You!” I want you to take a pause and also remember to take note that today, May 4th is also the National Day of Prayer. There is some intense irony there.

A famous line spoken by many, even the old disciple like, wise elder Obi-Wan, the force is always wished to be with us. The force…an energy that surrounds us in every living thing. It penetrates us, and will give us the guiding light and bring about the good in us to have the power to defeat the Dark Side. Sounding Familiar?

There’s a bounty of information out there that compares and contrasts the similarities of the Star Wars fandom and The pursuit of Christianity. That isn’t the topic of my blog, but it is fairly intense in comparison if your interested in both. I am a generational Star Wars Geek, as well as a self admitted flawed, not as strong as I should be, but keep trying every day to do better, kind of Christian.

My favor is this…in the quiet of your day I want you to try to remember who “we” are…not you, not me, but WE. In another famous, equally important phrase The Pledge of Allegiance declares that we are ONE Nation Under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL. Think about that for a minute during your prayer today, for ALL.

Remember when all meant all? Back when we agreed that even though we didn’t always share one another’s opinions, we ALL shared some common ground. We all could agree that children didn’t need to be hungry, they shouldn’t suffer…they were children. Once upon a time, we agreed to look out for children wandering around in a store all alone. Go out of our way to and find the mother who is probably freaking out, going up and down the aisles looking for her child in a nervous panic.

Let’s assume if only for today, that we are all the good people we profess to be…that we all are just doing the absolute best we can. We should agree to help be the village, and not admonish the parent for neglect, but restore the human element to being a concerned citizen, and it be genuine concern, not Facebook fodder. We could pray for the elderly that they be treated with respect though their minds and bodies are failing them. It was on their backs we were carried to this point in time, they deserve dignity, not desertion. Pray that they are treated with love and kindness not abuse and neglect.

Let’s pray today for everyone to empty the stones from their pockets that for whatever reason they have picked up along the way in their walk. Pray that they can lighten their load. By letting go of the things that weigh them down, they are becoming free. Let’s shatter the pine-sol clean smelling glass houses that we pretend we live in only when we are expecting company to come over. Pray that we can look upon each others lives with empathy, not conviction…reach out a hand, not a fist and help each other stand stronger.

For today maybe we could pray for everyone but ourselves. We could pray for the soldiers putting their life and lives on the line for us to live under a blanket of security we pull up over our heads when things go bump in the night. Let’s pray that we can collectively show our support of them and what an amazing sacrifice they are giving us, not matter what color you wear, red or blue.

Let’s Be united in being the elephant, not for a party…but because they never forget…they remember everyone, not just the one’s they are comfortable with. Let’s be a donkey, not to choose a side, but because Donkey’s have a reputation for stubbornness but this is due to their highly develop sense of self preservation.

For today, let’s just all be Americans, period.

We could bend our knees for the teachers, who are working more, getting paid less and are often times expected to be a mother, father, or guardian. Send them your prayers for respect they aren’t given, not by parents, not by children, not by the government. They are the most important line of defense because they are the educators of today, teaching tomorrow’s adults. You know, those people in ten to fifteen years from now that will be holding, wielding and using the weapons of mass destruction of tomorrow.

If we expect them to have a good morale compass, confidence, humility, grace and good judgment then, should we be covering teachers with a blanket of grace, love and admiration for they are trying their best to teach our children right now?

Maybe each of us could pray for each other, blindly, faithfully and with sincere hope that our work days get shorter. That we can have the strength to unplug ourselves from the immediate gratification of unimportant, irrelevant social solicitation, and focus on the child sitting across the dinner table, or TV tray, that sits in silence as they read their phone and you read yours. There, but miles away from one another in the same room.

We could pray for conversation to be restored in our lives, the act of speaking to one another without distraction. Maybe then we will hear the troubled quiver of a voice that’s being bullied, feel the shame pouring out from a child caught up in an internet situation she didn’t realize was a trap, and is too frightened and embarrassed to discuss it, but you haven’t asked…so she hasn’t told. Our children aren’t our equals, they are our responsibility. Let’s pray that doors open in our hearts and homes, and that we get to know the strangers in our lives we call our family.

Just like Star Wars, there is a Dark Side in life. Those that are swayed by a weakness, lulled by a persuasion, crippled by an addiction, for what ever reason…broken. Today can we pray that we rise above judgment, and leave that to the only one that can truly Judge us. Can we love one another with the love of Christ, who loved us some deeply, without condition or hesitation so much so, he gave his life for our sins. Side by side with the very sinners he was saving by his sacrifice.

Sin has no color, gender, or magnitude in which it can be measured. The lie of one man is the murder from another. It is so hard for us to wrap our brains around that isn’t it? That sin, has no weight of balance. Think about that as you pray today, be honest with your self in those moments of reflection.

Although “May the Force be with you” obviously generated in science fiction, many of us use the phrase in everyday life as a nice way of saying goodbye, good luck. ‘may you be protected’ or ‘come back safely’. But for today dear readers, on this dual day of Force and Fourth…I will join you in your praying for our Nation, and one another. Today as I sign off, I am choosing to believe it originated from the Latin phrase ‘dominus vobiscum’, which means ‘The Lord be with you.” ~ Kimberly

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