For the past few years, my life has pretty much sucked. I moved away from my hometown and all my friends and family, I got divorced, the economy tanked, and my work dwindled down to virtually nothing.
I’ve struggled to figure out what I want and how to get it. I’ve had trouble seeing the big picture because I’ve been so focused on the little details of daily survival. Basically, I’ve felt like I was cursed.
But over the past few weeks, I’ve been seeing some signs—little hints—that things might be turning around. My life is still far from perfect, but I’m (almost) starting to feel hopeful again.
Maybe it’s this project. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m African at the moment and my ancestor spirits are stepping in to help me out. I don’t know. Whatever it is, I’m feeling better. I’m feeling—dare I say it?—blessed. Well, at least a little bit blessed.
So, I thought today I’d share my newfound optimism by posting an African prayer of blessing. I hope it works for you as well as all this African traditional religion seems to be working for me:
O Lord, O God, Creator of our land, our earth, the trees, the animals and humans, all is for your honor. The drums beat it out, and people sing about it, and they dance with noisy joy that you are the Lord.
You also have pulled the other continents out of the sea. What a wonderful world you have made out of the wet mud, and what beautiful men and women! We thank you for the beauty of this earth. The grace of your creation is like a cool day between rainy seasons. We drink in your creation with our eyes.
We listen to the birds' jubilee with our ears. How strong and good and sure your earth smells, and everything that grows there. The sky above us is like a warm, soft Kente cloth, because you are behind it, else it would be cold and rough and uncomfortable. We drink in your creation and cannot get enough of it.
But in doing this we forget the evil we have done. Lord, we call you, we beg you: tear us away from our sins and our death. This wonderful world fades away. And one day our eyes snap shut, and all is over and dead that is not from you. We are still slaves of the fetishes of this earth. When we are not saved by you.
Bless us. Bless our land and people.
Bless our forests with mahogany, wawa, and cacao.
Bless our fields with cassava and peanuts.
Bless the waters that flow through our land. Fill them with fish and drive great schools of fish to our seacoast, so that the fishermen in their unsteady boats do not need to go out too far.
Be with us youth in our countries, and in all Africa, and in the whole world. Prepare us for the service that we should render.
You also have pulled the other continents out of the sea. What a wonderful world you have made out of the wet mud, and what beautiful men and women! We thank you for the beauty of this earth. The grace of your creation is like a cool day between rainy seasons. We drink in your creation with our eyes.
We listen to the birds' jubilee with our ears. How strong and good and sure your earth smells, and everything that grows there. The sky above us is like a warm, soft Kente cloth, because you are behind it, else it would be cold and rough and uncomfortable. We drink in your creation and cannot get enough of it.
But in doing this we forget the evil we have done. Lord, we call you, we beg you: tear us away from our sins and our death. This wonderful world fades away. And one day our eyes snap shut, and all is over and dead that is not from you. We are still slaves of the fetishes of this earth. When we are not saved by you.
Bless us. Bless our land and people.
Bless our forests with mahogany, wawa, and cacao.
Bless our fields with cassava and peanuts.
Bless the waters that flow through our land. Fill them with fish and drive great schools of fish to our seacoast, so that the fishermen in their unsteady boats do not need to go out too far.
Be with us youth in our countries, and in all Africa, and in the whole world. Prepare us for the service that we should render.
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