Summaries

Book Cover

This book is inspired by a planet in crisis with a powerful resistance to change. It addresses world leaders and citizens, civil rights and environmental organizations, and church ministries. It promotes abundance, racial equality, strong faith, and ecological change by elevating our global consciousness.  

The prayers petition divine assistance for issues like world hunger, lack of potable water supply, species eradication, deforestation, human rights violations, inflammatory rhetoric, and nuclear war, among others.  

The book offers positive, actionable solutions to critical problems, incorporating principles of brotherly love, self-healing, and recovery throughout.  The prayers are lyrical and instill an intimate relationship with God. Planet Earth has reached its tipping point. Only through high resolve and critical action can our planet survive nature’s test of time. Be part of the solution; there’s no time to lose!

Book Preface

This book began as a personal meditation, taken from a random prayer template on the Internet.  It was basic but satisfying, and each morning I gave thanks for all that surrounded me.  I observed from my living room a nearby lake with fountains and a landscape of trees.  I enjoyed the sound and feel of birds and ocean breezes and felt my prayer gave me a direct line to God.

I began adding sections for self-healing and relationships, forgiveness, integrity, and social issues that I observed in the world.  These concepts were essential to me, and praying about them had a positive effect on my life.  I began to experience a deeper relationship with God, with greater spiritual awareness.  I had taught healing principles as a nurse and incorporated them into my prayer.  I could feel that God was listening to me, and positive changes continued to occur in my life.

One afternoon I was prompted to turn on the television, which was unusual because I didn’t watch TV in the daytime.  What appeared on my screen was Anderson Cooper’s CNN special, “Planet in Peril.”  I sat with focused attention as I observed the conditions that afflicted the earth and realized I was ignorant about many of them.  It was clear to me that the planet could not sustain such extreme neglect and abuse.  Neither could many animal species survive at the current rate of poaching, hunting, and global warming.  

I took notes on the CNN special, something I hadn’t done before.  The content formed the basis of “Prayer for Our Planet,” and subsequent prayers evolved in this way.  There was subtle prompting from a “quiet voice” that I have come to recognize as the Holy Spirit’s.  For many months He persisted in advancing His causes.  My prayers were a pleasure to write, and my companion graced its pages with His brand of eloquence.

There was no plan to write this book as I wrote the prayers for my private contemplation.  I prayed earnestly for environmental conditions and societal injustices I found disturbing, and the prayer kept growing.  When I read it to friends, they suggested that I distinguish one subject from another as I continued writing and praying about issues that concerned me.  One prayer became many.  

I envisioned common-sense solutions to toxic conditions and incorporated these into the prayers.  Finally, friends suggested that I convert my prayers into a book for the planet.  I hope it will serve as a primer for healing our hearts and our world, for bringing equality and sustainable peace to humanity.

Book Introduction

Our planet is struggling for survival as critical issues impact it in alarming ways; the ecological breakdown is outpacing our efforts to preserve it.  The food we grow cannot sustain us, and three-quarters of the world suffer from malnutrition, starvation, or lack of potable water. Poachers and hunters decimate familiar species to the verge of extinction. 

Nuclear war remains a credible threat as incendiary rhetoric between nations destabilizes world peace. Civil liberties are eroding worldwide as authoritarian states impose increased restrictions on them. The world unites in sympathy over recalcitrant police brutality toward people of color. And many who disclose their gender identity still face violence and intolerance.

This book is written for a global audience with strong resistance to change— for a planet in crisis. Its goal is world peace, equality, and restoration of Earth’s natural and animal habitats. 

Each of us has a personal and collective responsibility to heal the world and each other. The prayers presented in these pages combine Earth’s ecological and societal ills with a heartfelt petition and common-sense solutions. They convey that God created and sustains the universe and must occupy a central position among us for planetary healing to occur. This book attempts to establish God’s presence with us in a venerable way.

Amazon Book Description

This book is written for a global audience with a powerful resistance to change and for a planet in crisis. Its goal is to promote world peace, abundance, social justice and restore Earth's natural habitats. These ideals are achievable by elevating our global consciousness through a world of healed individuals.  

Prayer Book for Our Planet emphasizes healing of self and embodies classical principles of recovery. The prayers align divisive rhetoric and prejudice with world communal gardening, global peace, and prosperity. Watson calls upon IBM’s supercomputer by that name to solve world hunger, homelessness, and disease for 820 million people by 2025. 

The prayers attack Earth’s environmental and societal ills at their root causes and offer reasonable solutions to them. The message they convey is that God created and sustains the universe and that He must occupy a central place in our lives for planetary healing to occur.  Thus, Prayer Book establishes God’s presence among us in a venerable way.

Scriptural tenets and secular quotes are woven among the prayers, containing passages from Darwin to Gandhi, Aristotle to Shakespeare, and the Book of Genesis to Albert Schweitzer. In addition, the wisdom of spiritual leaders, including Jesus Christ, St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis, and the Dalai Lama, is echoed in the book.

We know that through the persistent efforts of an inspired few, much good is done globally. I hope to inspire many others to action.  The mission of Prayer Book for Our Planet is to generate a world of committed individuals who embody a new spiritual awareness that promotes world peace, ecological restoration, and equality among men.