Aspire To Be a Flicker of Light That Ignites the Hearts of Men

Here I am finally, at the anciently-awaited launch of a book.  It began with a simple wish to express a grateful prayer daily, consistently.  I’d struggled to compose one out of sheer awkwardness, so I’d researched the internet to find a sweet way to talk with God.

A one-paragraph prayer was my template to discern the things I wanted to bring to God's attention.  Then leaning on, as if a crutch, the person who wrote the original, I was able to loosen my inhibition with the Divine, and as the words began to flow, my list of requests began to grow.

The paragraph became a page, progressed to five, and went on from there.   Besides giving thanks, I began a journey of self-healing, asking for correction of my character flaws and installation of positive character traits.  This process meant finding what those flaws were, and I set out doggedly to discover and correct them.

Crazy Inspirations

The Inscrutable Chinese

I began writing prayers inspired by the Chinese proverb, If There is Light in the Soul, which concluded, "If There is Light in the Soul...there will be peace in the world”.  I wrote about embracing forgiveness, acceptance, relationships, gratitude, and letting go of hurts.  The prayers reflected spiritual growth, personal healing, and freedom from unhelpful attitudes.

Celestial Taps

I felt taps and tugs of inspiration and urges to watch television in mid-afternoon, which I hadn’t done before.  Some of the nudges led to PBS or CNN specials about the earth’s environment, highlighting global issues threatening our species and our world.  I took notes on these documentaries, which would later form the basis of my prayers for the planet.

A Growing Cataclysm

Poaching and eradicating species to the verge of extinction, widespread hunger and starvation, unsustainable deforestation, lack of lending to the poor, worldwide shortage of potable water, a critical need for corporate agrarian reform, and other global needs were unfolding before me.  Thus began my talks with God about seemingly irreparable situations.

Global Mayhem

Other documentaries and news highlighted the lack of social justice in the U.S. and abroad.  The violence and crackdowns on social freedoms in Hong Kong, China, Russia, Syria, and Belarus, were difficult to watch and comprehend.  I was accustomed to an American, democratic form of government.

People were brutally attacked or shot by order of their autocratic rulers or dictators; they bled, massively bruised, and had their skulls cracked and stitched to a gasping world.  I wanted to address these issues with God in a way that would raise global awareness and bring about solutions; it would take creating a worldwide consciousness for conditions to change.

A Perilous Plight

Anderson Cooper's 2007 CNN documentary, "Planet in Peril”, inspired me to write my first prayer, entitled, "Prayer for Our Planet".  It provided me with a way to address our planet’s need for environmental change with the creator and sustainer of the universe.  Where else could I find help with dilemmas that had such global reach?  I knew I’d reached the ultimate Source of support, and thus, I began the book as a personal prayer-time between God and me, on behalf of our planet.  And the inspirations kept revealing themselves.

My Tipping Point

I have always known that God inspired me to write this book, and in March of 2020, I received a blessing.  Being sequestered during the pandemic allowed me focused time to publish my book, Prayer Book for Our Planet: Solutions for Social Justice and Environmental Change.  I had needed a time of freedom from all distractions, and SARS CoV-2 provided it.

Totally Random?  I Think Not.

Inspirational communications had been popping up around me for months in various forms and places.  There were messages on eye-catching wooden or ceramic plaques,  "Make it Happen", "You Got This", "It's Time", "And the Story Begins", "Evolve", "Think", "Write", and "She Knew She Could So She Did", everywhere I shopped.

These signs always appeared out of place in their respective environments and were impossible to ignore.  So I began to collect them, and they inspire me as I write this blog.  Then, at last, my multi-colored, battery-operated NEON sign appeared, saying, "Get It Done”!  And so I did!

The Circuitous Route

It’s been a rigorous ride, and I have no choice but to place outcomes in God's hands.  I  do this with 100% trust.  As for this long-awaited book launch, one couldn't imagine the surprising relief and comfort one feels by reaching this type of milestone.

It's a giant release of the tension of anticipation and a reduction of long-elevated cortisol levels.  I recently read that 1% of people who write books publish them.  Yet, despite the many labors involved in the process, I am still surprised by this statistic.

Two Colorful Boxers

The secret to my tenacity lies in a message I received one evening while sitting at a traffic light in the middle of the Sunset Strip in Hollywood.  A billboard, towering over the opposite side of the street, featured two boxers sparring in a ring.  They wore brightly colored trunks and sported gloved fists.

Beneath them, a simple declaration: "Determination always beats fatigue in the final kick.”  The magnitude of the simple message spoke volumes to me long before I thought of writing this book.  The wisdom of that short declarative statement has guided and encouraged me throughout my life, ever since I quickly scribbled it on a piece of scrap before the red light turned green.

Over to You

Prayer Book for Our Planet: Solutions for Social Justice and Environmental Change provides actionable and common-sense solutions to many of Earth’s most critical problems.  Join me now in healing our planet.  Check out Prayer Book for an uplifting and proactive approach to saving our world and all the creatures on it.

The book is available through Amazon Books.