jamie y. watkins

Tag: prayer

  • Baby Prayers

    Baby Prayers

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in ,

    I opened my eyes and about six inches in front of me was my little five-month-old girl, resting on her side, eyes closed, mouth slightly open as she gently breathed in and out. Both her arms were outstretched in front of her, her little hands folded onto each other. It looked like she was saying…

  • Without Words

    Without Words

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in

    I’ve been praying for you. Allow me to be honest for a moment. That’s not always a phrase I take well. I’ve heard it too many times, said in condescension or pity or self-righteousness. It’s a phrase people have used when they don’t know what else to say about my doubts and questions, about my…

  • I Lit Two Candles

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in

    I lit two candles for so much sorrow. I haven’t been able to pray because I don’t know how to ask God for anything beyond mercy. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.  I lit one candle for those we’ve lost, those brought down, those left behind; And one candle for those who’ve taken, those who’ve…

  • We’ve Had Enough

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in

    Some days are so hard, so scary.  I went to bed last night thinking about the bombing in Baghdad, about all those hundreds of people who lost their lives or their loved ones, about how there was so little coverage of it because … what?  We don’t care about Iraqi people in the West?  Or…

  • In All the Ways We Grow

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in

    This past Thanksgiving, my family gathered at my parents’ house: my parents, my two older sisters, their husbands, and two children each, my younger sister and her boyfriend, me, my husband, and my mother-in-law. It was most of the family; eleven adults and four kids. My family isn’t particularly religious. They don’t go to church. They…

  • Tension

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in

    Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders; let them drop. Unset your jaw. Exhale. Listen. Unwind. Be still. About three years ago I chipped my front tooth biting a pen at work. Later, I chipped that tooth again on a piece of pizza– really, just pizza. It turns out, I grind my teeth at night,…

  • The Hymn

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in

    My song is love unknown, my Savior’s love to me, love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be. O who am I that for my sake my Lord should take frail flesh, and die? In life no house, no home my Lord on earth might have; in death no friendly tomb but what a…

  • Patience and Reflection for Lent

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in

    Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through…

  • Anxiety That Flies High

    —

    by

    jywatkins
    in ,

    I love traveling. I mean I LOVE traveling. My family did not travel much when I was growing up. The longest distance we ever went as a family was a cross-country trip from New Jersey out West to Arizona, where my uncle lives. But I was eighteen months old, so I don’t remember a mile…