A prayer for Nan

If you have been following this blog you may have read a few post responses by my friend Nan. Nan has been incredibly supportive both as a friend and a colleague at work. Today Nan's mother died unexpectedly. She is an older woman whose health has been fragile but Nan thought she was making progress. Today's sad news was a complete shock. Please keep Nan and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

For Nan..

Mother's Evening Prayer
O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.
Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.
O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill, — since God is good, and loss is gain.
Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
'Lo, I am with you always,' — watch and pray.
No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled breast,
When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear-drops gain,
And mother finds her home and heav'nly rest.