The Lord's Prayer - by Letters From Delight

Our Father, who art in heaven, Some of us haven't heard your voice in a while.We have forgotten the feeling of belonging,the warmth of your embrace,the fragrance of your presence,and even the touch of your power. Hallowed be thy name. For I have forgotten the last alphabet of the name that broke me.When my heart was wrenched...I should have invoked your nameto rejuvenate my bleeding heart. Knowing I will never have answersto all my bank of questionstill "thy kingdom come" ...let not this curiosity eat me up.For I am just a girl. Thy will be done on earth For I have restrained myself from using my free will.I have chosen peace over prejudice.The battles in my heart,I cannot fight alone.So, I choose peaceby giving all of it to you. As it is in heaven. But there is a contradiction here on earth. Hungry and desperate men have eaten the flesh of the innocent.They have fed on the ignorance of their subjects.The heart of man is indeed desperately wicked.Only you can tell. But I am forced to ask:Why have you done nothing but stare at them?The wicked—you let them thrive. Give us this day our daily bread. For some of us have half-baked bread.Some do not have the floor to...Others have the floor but cannot bake.But the end goal is to have bread. So, since I have you,who are the Bread of Life...does this mean I have mine already? And forgive us our trespasses. The Governor of Kano, to be precise,for his intrusive, demeaning, performative,and demoralizing action. Marrying 3,000 individuals off in a single day.It is controversialfor a country already suffering economic hardship. Mismanaging funds, Meanwhile, Miriam, in IDP camp, still uses foam to absorb her menstrual blood —as a substitute for sanitary pads every month. As we forgive those who trespass against us. Let them not repeat it again! For my heart has mastered the art of forgivingso well that it now accepts hurtas a way of practising its skills. Lead us not into temptation. The temptation of falling in love with nonchalant men—for they are as painfulas the crown of thorns that pierced your head. The temptation of giving up on life.For these hurdles,Lord, until when?. But deliver us from evil. The evil that tells us women are the weaker vessels.For this is the worst lie ever told in human history. And that a boy must never cry. The evil of masculinity being measuredby how much a man can hide his emotions,how well he can cover the scarsof a bleeding wound. The evil of stigmatizing menstruationwhen a woman's body is just being body. Deliver us, Lord,from the evil of the current president ruling again. As funny as it may sound now,it wouldn't be if he does. For who likes to bleed twice? For thine is the kingdom,and the power,and the glory,forever and ever, May I never lose my spark to write. Amen. If I were to rewrite the Lord’s Prayer in this generation, this is how it would sound—through the eyes of a girl trying to make sense of God, grief, love, injustice, and the strange contradictions of being human.

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