A Bipolar Prayer, Or…Boom, Boom, Ain’t It Great to be Crazy?
1st draft
A Bipolar Prayer
Thank you, Lord, for making me crazy.
Thank you for saving me from my folly,
And preserving my life
A dozen times.
Thank you for your protection
From my own impulsivity.
——
Thank you, Lord, for flights of frenzy.
Thank you for seasons of impact,
When ideas and plans take flight,
When I ride on currents of energy,
When the intensity of love I feel
For all people and things
Buoys me into skies of light.
When I create,
When I sing,
When I exalt,
When I feel.
Thank you for those who follow my flights
And finish them.
—–
Thank you, Lord, for Icarus wings.
Thank you for plunges into treacherous depths.
I fear no darkness,
When you are with me.
I once feared myself,
Curling in against my own despair,
Sinking in an armored shell
That carried me only further beneath the waves.
I once closed my eyes and held my breath,
Afraid to see the beauty beyond the light,
Afraid to explore the dangers and solemn joys
Lurking in the dark reef of my mind.
Here I have learned humility,
I have learned compassion,
I have learned honesty,
And truth.
I have met my most hidden self,
And I have survived.
—–
Thank you, Lord, for self-awareness.
Thank you for the drive of self-improvement.
Thank you for a family that taught me to think of others,
To consider the impact of my actions and words,
To be responsible for the ripples I make in the world.
Thank you that I learned my limitations,
That I learned my weaknesses,
Before my children could suffer from them.
Thank you for science,
For support,
And for security.
—–
Thank you, Lord, for forgiveness from you and from others,
For second chances,
For islands of calm upon which I rest .
Thank you for teaching me when to finish,
And when to walk away.
Tomorrow I may follow currents of sea or air,
I may soar or I may drown.
Tomorrow I may be nothing.
Thank you, Lord, for tomorrow’s grace,
And for grace to come hereafter.
-Jenny Braswell 2/13/2011
