A Springtime Prayer

Oh power of springtime,
Spirit of green grasses and warm breezes;
Goddess of creativity
of birth
of life renewed
You sing all about us at this time.
The birds call your sacred name.
Buds burst forth with your vestment.
The sun reaches higher into the sky
shining the light of this new day
through the windows of your cathedral,
this world.
Oh power of springtime
forgive us our speediness
and our racing before your
eternal grace
that we do not see
the miracle world we share.
Open our eyes with your warmth
and our hearts with your beauty
slow our minds with awe and wonder.
Dear Spirit of green grasses
and warm breezes;
let us find here
in this moment of quiet
the grace of your breath
as we breathe into our bodies
the spirit of spring.

Major Reverend George Tyger is a Unitarian Universalist minister and Military Chaplain and ethics instructor at the U.S. Army Military Police School (USAMPS) at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Prior to joining the chaplaincy, he served as a parish minister in congregations in Rochester, New York; Springfield and Palmer, Massachusetts; and Harrisonburg, Virginia. He is the author of War Zone Faith: An Army Chaplain’s Reflections from Afghanistan, Skinner House, 2013.