Prayers during a Pandemic: For Those Grieving

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today we pray for people experiencing grief. We know that COVID-19 is not the only tragedy people are living with right now. Even as a global pandemic rages, we are affected by other disasters, struggle through other crises, and grieve other losses.

Today we pray for people who are grieving losses of every kind.

We pray for those we don’t know and for those we do, including [names of people who are grieving]. We name their griefs in recognition of their suffering. [Name the tragedies, crises, and personal afflictions we know our loved ones carry now or that we carry.]

We pray for those suffering grief that they prepared for and grief that came unannounced. We pray for those living with grief that they cannot envision ending, that they do not know how to survive, and that is reshaping their life in ways unimaginable. We pray for those whose hearts feel like lead, whose bodies are exhausted but cannot rest, and whose minds cannot make sense of the tragedies they are facing.

We  hope for them rest, comfort, and companionship. We hope for them friends to hold their grief. We hope for them all they need, every moment of every day.

We are thankful for the depth of love that grief reminds us we are capable of.

At Eternity's Gate - WikipediaAbove, Van Gogh’s At Eternity’s Gate.
 

Listening Hearts: Day 96

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

What was the last compliment you gave someone?

Listening Hearts: Day 95

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

Tell about a time when you worried about something that ended up being nothing to be concerned about.

Image result for worrying is like a rocking chair"

Prayers during a Pandemic: For Children in Foster Care

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today we pray for children in foster care as well as those who recently left the foster care system, especially college students who may be struggling to find a place to “come home” to.

Today we pray for children in the foster care system and those who have recently graduated from it. We pray, too, for foster parents, respite foster parents, and social workers serving in foster care. We pray for all those who love and support children and foster families.

We pray for those we don’t know and for those we do, including [names of people involved in foster care, including ourselves].

We pray for children who may fear entering the foster care system but who are not safe in their biological parents’ homes. We pray for them confidence that they will be cared for. We pray for them soothing of conflicted feelings about pursuing their own safety. We pray for them assurance that they are loved and remembered. Our hope for them is safety, security, affection, support, and the meeting of all their physical, social, and emotional needs.

We pray for foster families, that they retain optimism, hope, acceptance, and compassion, that the welcome they share never wanes but that they are sustained by broader communities of support and kindness. We pray for just treatment of children in foster care, positive relationships between them and other children and adults in their foster homes, and ethical treatment throughout their engagement in the foster care system.

We are thankful for children in our community and grateful for the opportunity to meet all their needs. We are thankful for foster families and those who protect children.

The Siblings Painting | Max Liebermann Oil Paintings

Above, The Siblings by Max Lieberman shows a young child and a baby playing together on the floor. The older child holds a doll, which the younger one examines. Every child deserves a safe, loving family.

 

Listening Hearts: Day 94

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

What foreign country would you most like to visit?

491-map-world-political-winkel-tripel-asia-australia-centered.jpg

Listening Hearts: Day 93

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

What are your favorite names?

Prayers during a Pandemic: For People with Immunocompromisation

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family is taking time daily to pray about the current global health crisis. Our prayers will likely reference the Christian tradition, but we’ve written with an ecumenical and agnostic audience in mind.

If you’d like us to pray for you, let us know. If you’d like us to write a prayer for you or for a concern you have and share it here, just ask. You don’t have to share your name if you don’t want to, and we won’t share it or any other identifying details about you here or elsewhere.

Today we pray for people who are immunocompromised and those with underlying or pre-existing health conditions.

Today we pray for people with immunocompromised health and other health conditions that make them vulnerable to viruses or make recovery from illness more challenging. We pray for those who are ill and those who fear they will be ill, as well as all the people who care about them and for them, including physicians, nurses, home health aids, and friends and family.

We pray for those we don’t know and for those we do, including [names of people we care about who are ill or who have had illnesses that make them vulnerable to further sickness].

We pray for all those with AIDs, cancer, diabetes, and malnutrition, as well as other conditions that suppress their immune systems. We pray for those who use medications that make them vulnerable to other illnesses. And we pray for all those in nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, foster homes, ICE detention centers, and group homes who may be more vulnerable to the spread of disease because of where they live.

We pray for them health, safety, security, and access to medicine, good healthcare and sanitary conditions. We hope for them peace of heart and assurance. We pray that they are able to rest from any worries they might have.

We are thankful for every member of our community, for each unique contribution they make, the gifts they share, the ways they leave, and the models they provide.

 

 

Listening Hearts: Day 92

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

What is a happy memory you have of being outside?

Image result for wildflowers in spring"

Listening Hearts: Day 91

Posted on by Rebecca Barrettfox

Our family has been working on a new daily practice: listening. Active, reflective, engaged listening that says to the other person. My desire is to understand you as you are, not to correct you or improve you or educate you.

To that end, we’ve been writing questions to help us get to know each other better. Some of these questions are serious; many are silly. Sometimes we laugh at things that are meant to be serious, and sometimes our silliness leads us into serious places. Our goal is to publish one each day on our blog. We hope you find them useful, either as prompts to think about yourself or as questions you bring to the car ride or the dinner table. They’re written by all of us, and you’ll see the diversity of our thoughts and interest in them, so in the questions themselves, you’ll get to know us a little better too.

Subscribe to our blog (or follow our Twitter account @familyfoxhole) to have them appear in your inbox or Twitter feed daily.

Today’s question:

Do you like practical jokes? Why or why not?