How shall I pray?
Are tears prayers, Lord?
Are screams prayers,
or groans
or sighs
or curses?
Can trembling hands be lifted to you,
or clinched fists
or cold sweat that trickles down my back
or the cramps that knot my stomach?
Will you accept my prayers, Lord?
my real prayers,
rooted in the muck and mud and rock of my life,
and not just the pretty, cut-flower, gracefully arranged
bouquet of words?
Will you accept me, Lord,
as I really am,
messed up mixture of glory and grime?

-Ted Loder in Guerilla of Grace