a friend goes in

for heart surgery..

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Lord, you're the one who gave us hearts of flesh.

We want them to beat right in time with yours.

To see the good around, and get enmeshed

in multiplying it in time, because

that's what you said to do, and your good word

is food and drink to us, the way to life

that's worth the living. But we've also heard

of your great grief* endured, 'coz of your "wife*".

We want to enter into joy and grief

in company with you who bears them both.

Your company is what brings our relief.

And also leads us on - to all our growth!

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Lord we love you too.

Footnotes

f* - “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humans was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. [6] And the Lord was sorry that he had made humans on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”(Genesis 6:5-6 NRSVUE)

e* - God’s people are sometimes (metaphorically?) spoken of as his “children” taking on the family “trade”, and at other times they are (oddly, to our ears) spoken of as his “wife” (Isaiah 54:5-10; 62:5, Ezekiel 16), whom he wants to share life with intimately and who is bound by covenant to share life and focus and the creative purposes of YHWH, Creative Love himself …

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