This Morning I Pray for My Enemies

Is this something any of us would do? Without being reminded to, I mean. Jesus famously said "love your enemies" and "love your neighbor as yourself" - it is a common entreaty to establish harmony, love one another.

But to pray. For an enemy.

Radical thought, no?

Let's dispense with whether or not any of us believes in the power of prayer. 

(spoiler: I do) 

We all have "prayed" for others - in the simplest way, just thinking about the health and well-being of someone we know can be called a prayer, in my book. Usually we pray for people we love. Most often probably for ourselves, which would make sense because you love yourself. YAY! 

Maybe you pray to say thank you. 

Maybe you pray to ask for help. 

Maybe you pray just to offer praise. It can be as short as the moment you notice a beautiful flower, a gorgeous piece of music or a sunbeam and appreciate it. That's prayer too, in this book of mine.

Writer, Anne Lamott says the three essential prayers are "Help", "Thanks" and "Wow". Ponder that and I think you can easily drop any of your recent prayers into those three categories. Each of these types of prayer help us in some way. We feel we're being active in providing help to people in need when we feel helpless. Recently a beloved family member went through and is still going through a very challenging health issue. All I could do was pray. It helped me feel useful and I hope helped them feel loved. Saying thank you feels good when we do it, after all - gratitude is the best attitude there is. And who doesn't love that moment of appreciation - the WOW prayer?

What do we have to gain from praying for an enemy? 

Maybe we move away from the state of an unhealthy peace toward one of truer peace. What is unhealthy peace, you ask? It is coexisting with unspoken issues. It is holding resentment silently but moving through your day as if nothing is wrong. It is surface peace - not the deep, inner peace we seek that brings us true joy.

The instant we pause to realize our enemy is worthy of our engagement - our enmity, if you will - it is not a far flung thought to see that that enemy is also worthy of our prayer. 

The newly appointed United States Poet Laureate is Joy Harjo - a Native American poet, of whom I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of before she received this position. I'm grateful she's in the role now if only for the mere fact that it helped me find this poem by her about praying for our enemies.

And whom do I call my enemy?
An enemy must be worthy of engagement.
I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking.
It's the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind.
The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun.
It sees and knows everything.
It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing.
The door to the mind should only open from the heart
An enemy who gets in, risks the danger of becoming a friend.