Prayer and friendship

So many female blogs avoid discussion of matters that are avoided by society at a polite dinner table: politics, religion, sex and death. Now that's OK as long as we remember that we live in a real world in which not everything is as neat, beautiful, ordered, and creative as our blogs suggest. In fact, we ought to remember the reality checks where we look at the needs of others, where we consider people who are far from us and outside our circle of friends and acquantainces. There are people who are marginalised in our society - and through no fault of their own. Two things that can face all of us with a bit of a shock are the marginalising effects of severe and/or prolonged illness and the ageing process.

Many of us enter the world of Ms Robyn through her blog daily parcels tied up with string. Ms Robyn majors in the beautiful and good but has also let us into corners of her life which haven't always been the best. In fact, Miss Eagle has been stunned, at times, by her honesty and her disclosure. Here is a generous spirit.

Her spirit has been challenged in the last 48 hours or so as you will see if, dear Reader, you visit her blog. She has stepped out into a spiritual realm with a blog devoted to prayer for those with needs. She has been hurt by those she considered friends. She has been supported by many, many more. Ms Robyn is in the field but she is wounded.

Miss Eagle is of the persuasion which believes we are spiritual beings with body, mind, and emotions attached. Now she is a big girl - in more ways than one - and knows that there are others in the world who don't see things this way. Miss Eagle's friends include a range of atheists and agnostics. Miss Eagle also knows there are people who fence their spiritual values in with some rather heavy dogma and certainties. She knows the capacity that they have to hurt people by hitting them over the head with sacred books and sureties.

One thing about blogs is that they can be completely ignored. Those who don't find Our world wrapped in prayer and love to their taste can ignore it. You don't go to the blog - and you can be sure the blog won't come to you. Prayer for the sick whether it is in the form of kind thoughts and positive energies, meditation or In Jesus Name, Amen is a form of concern and love for someone other than ourselves. All the great faiths of the world commend such age-old love and concern. Those who ignore such a practice, if only they could know, are impoverished.

And for you, Ms Robyn, I have found this poem:

The Best of Friends

© Jill Wolf

When friendships undergo a test

It's often found old friends are best;

The sampler on the parlour wall

Has these few lines which say it all;

The best of friends can change a frown

Into a smile when you feel down.

The best of friends will understand

Your little trials and lend a hand.

The best of friends will always share

Your secret dreams because they care.

The best of friends, worth more than gold,

Give all the love a heart can hold.