Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers

by Anne Lamott

Prayer means that, in some unique way, we believe we’re invited into a relationship with someone who hears us when we speak in silence.

Help. Help us walk through this. Help us come through.

I pray for people who are hurting, that they be filled with air and light. Air and light heal; they somehow get into those dark, musty places, like spiritual antibiotics.

I even have to pray for the willingness to give up the stuff I hate most about myself.

So I prayed: “Help me not be such an ass.” (This is actually the fourth great prayer, which perhaps we will address at another time.)