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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Thanks for this poem, Toni,</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">such a beautiful message!</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Love, Lee</div><div><br></div>
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On Tuesday, April 21, 2026, 07:17:50 PM PDT, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org> wrote:
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<div><div id="ydp8552fabyiv1992014593"><div><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:14px;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;"><b>Prayer</b></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:11px;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;"><i>Tonijean Bernbaum</i></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">It really doesn’t matter</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">Where I begin </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">or how it begins.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">It could be a tulip in its last day of bloom</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">or a baby pine sprinkled with snow</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">or a walnut in its shell </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">or a stone from the river bed at a sacred site.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">It could be a chipmunk</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">or the scurrying of a chipmunk</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">on the pile of fresh cut oak</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">fragrant in the peripheral </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">of dawn’s first light.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">Could be the deer</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">eating the apple</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">or the deer dung</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">or the emerald patch of moss</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">where the dung was dropped.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">I find it quite impossible </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">to <i>begin</i> a prayer.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">It’s already going on </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">All the time</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">everywhere.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">And all the while</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;"><i> I AM </i>the prayer</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">speaking,</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">I am the miracle of life</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">expressing itself through me.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">I am this mystery, </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">out of which I have sprung</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">this prayer of listening</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">to the voice of the All speaking</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">the answer to every prayer -</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">Knowing myself as <i>That</i></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">expressing That I am, </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;">the answer to every prayer. </p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;font-family:Cambria;font-size-adjust:none;min-height:14px;"><br></p></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>Thespiritexpress mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a><br><a href="https://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress</a><br></div>
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