TEXT: LAMENTATION 3: 19-21
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I will remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
BUT, GETTING UP IS GREAT.
“In life, there are many elements you can choose, but there are others you cannot do anything about. When I found out that I was orphaned, I didn’t like it. I thought it was not what I intended, and for some time my state of mind was unstable. There were moments I could have fallen away from a straight, just path. But gradually I realized that this was my life, that I could not exchange mine for any other person’s. I have come to realize I have been supported by many people, and I owe my existence to them. Being an orphan was my background and backbone. If I had not lost my parents and I had led an easier life, I would not be the person I am now. I think of my past in a positive way.-- Toshiro Ogura
“These days, I visit prisons in my role as a chaplain. I always tell people there that it is very good if you do not fall. But people are apt to trip. If you get up back on the right track, then the experience will enrich your life. If you don’t get up, you reach the end, and you lose. But getting up is great.”
Hiroshima in the Morning by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto.
PRAYER
Lord, we praise you for your unchanging love and everlasting hope for Japan. We thank you for their resilient, diligent nature and for their love for beauty, community and peace. We believe people of Fukushima will get up again. With your hope and strength they may embrace the surprise and the grace each moment of this new life will bring to them, we pray. Amen.
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