It's the time for solace in the 'Survivor's Prayer'

Moroccan child at prayer

Carol Forsloff---More than three years ago I wrote an article to comfort and console all of us who need ways of dealing with stressful events.  Recently the violence in Kenya, the shooting on the military base in America, and last year's terror at Sandy Hook, weather disasters and a host of other problems offers that time to find that hopeful voice that might bring some relief and is called "The Survivor's Prayer."

If you want to survive the worst of times, rely on that small voice within you to do it.  Follow that voice to your ultimate talents and creativity.  Because what has been found is that creativity and knowledge flourish when times are difficult.  It seems that the rock pushed under the earth the longest turns out to be the most beautiful diamond.  Perhaps it is the same with people.

These are the times when diamonds can be created in great numbers.  Each of us has the light of God and therefore the ability to shine before the world as our Creator intended.  Regardless of what faith we have, what denomination, even those who believe that God is within mostly can recognize that the guiding voice we all share speaks firmly to us when we struggle.  Out of that struggle can come our truest realization of who we are, each a spark of God.  Out of that struggle can come divine inspiration.  Great artists who painted the most beautiful pieces of art, our masterpieces, suffered mightily at times.  That doesn’t mean we should seek to suffer, but instead of looking abjectly upon our fate, we can look within from which comes our greatest strength.

Through the expression of one’s art and one’s service, the ultimate prayer is given.  When we use our talents to help others, educate others, guide others, or give others pleasure, there is an intrinsic value that returns to us.  We give to others and receive in turn, the very joy in the act of our creating.  So it is that the musician smiles and sings along with what he or she has done; the artist looks back at the canvas in the joy and awe of that creation.  Somehow those who create know that they themselves are limited and that the gifts that come seem to manifest themselves unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, on a crowded street at dusk or on a lonely road that seems to go nowhere.  Many times creativity comes at the beginning of wakefulness in those early morning hours.  Perhaps it is then that our prayers that stir in the night are offered up, and we begin anew to transform ourselves and each other no matter how our lives may be at the time.

That is the prayer we need to remember, the prayer that says thank you for life itself, for our talents for our many and diverse gifts.  For it is through these gifts, these prayers that come from what we do, can allow us to ultimately survive.

The ones who tune themselves into the whispers of God, hear the voice in everything they do.  That’s the motivator, that small voice within us that says you can do it.  You can get past it.  You can get on with it.  Your mission is ahead.  Let nothing stop you.  Put obstacles aside and focus on your riches.  The messages come in whispers; your responses can come in shouts that are manifested by your products, your creations, your service, your dedication to what the God within and without allows you to be.

Group says VA discriminates about prayer, God at funerals

[caption id="attachment_6243" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Christian cross"][/caption]

GHN Editor - "The hostile and discriminatory actions by the Veterans Affairs officials in Houston are outrageous, unconstitutional and must stop," said Jeff Mateer, Esq., general counsel of Liberty Institute.

With this the Liberty Institute sets forth its concern that the separation of church and state in its interpretation by the Veterans Affairs has gone too far.  So with VFW District 4, American Legion Post 586, National Memorial Ladies  they have joined a lawsuit against the VA as well as the Director of Houston National Cemetery for Religious Hostility.

This lawsuit represents the continuing controversy over how much religious symbolism and behavior and of what type should be presented in a public place.  Some organizations have even been set up to fight for the right to celebrate Christmas publicly.

Recently the Louisiana legislature passed a bill allowing a monument of the Ten Commandments to be placed on government grounds in Baton Rouge.  A similar memorial was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court.  But there are instances where the conflict has been over Christmas displays, prayers and religious meetings that take place in areas and gatherings that have no intrinsic religious orientation.

Liberty Institute protests the inability for people to have Christian readings and prayers at veterans funerals at a national cemetery.  The organization maintains this level of restriction in religious practice is discriminatory.  In a recent press release, the Liberty Institute points out how it successfully represented a Houston pastor by the name of Scott Rainey in a suit in federal court where the Houston VA had prohibited him from saying a prayer in Jesus name on Memorial Day.

“Government officials who engage in religious discrimination against citizens are breaking the law. Sadly, this seems to be a pattern of behavior at the Houston VA National Cemetery."Mateer maintains.

The VA has violated the First Amendment is Liberty Institute's claim, describing its concern that the VA will not allow God to be mentioned at the funeral of Veterans and that prayers have to be submitted to the Government for approval.  The Institute further maintains that the one of the government officials, Jose Henriquez, had told key VFW leadership that the word “God” is forbidden  on greeting cards and at burial services.

In 2010 the Supreme Court in a vote of 5 to 4 overturned a decision that had been made by a federal judge objecting to the erection of a white cross that had been constructed in the Mojave desert 75 years ago to honor World War I war dead.   The objection to the cross had been made by the ACLU that had contended practitioners of other faiths, such as Judaism, would not want to be memorialized by a cross and that it did not represent all people since the cross was a religious symbol only for Christians.

Liberty Institute believes there is precedent for veterans to have prayers and religious symbols at their funerals whether on public or private property, and in doing so it brings up the argument once again over church and state, one that continues despite the previous decisions made on the subject.