LENTEN LINE 3: "To lift up in prayer"

 "It's not the weight you carry

but how you carry it ---

books, bricks, grief ---

it's all in the way 

you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,

put it down."

~ Mary Oliver from the poem HEAVY

Prayer time is one of those "must haves" when we gather together in worship or study or with simply the intention of being together. 

To lift anything or anyone starts with the intention to want to lift it;

We assess our need, gather others to join in the lifting;

We focus and find ways to get underneath the all of it;

Not rushed, we lift slowly and purposefully.

Now that I think more about it, "to lift up in prayer" is a near perfect metaphor for what we do when we pray for another;