The Lord's Prayer.
My first prayer.
I said it every night.
Partially because I believed it,
And Partially because my dad did.

Our father who art in heaven,

Our father.
My father.
He sat on my bed every night and said it with me.
Partially because he believed it,
And Partially because he wanted me to.

Hallowed be thy name.

Faith was easy to maintain when I was young.
Dad had it, mom had it —--until the tumor.
It invaded our lives.
Now the prayers were twice as many.
(Our father, our father . . .)

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.

God's heaven---
My heaven,
Began to mean more to me.
Everything I needed here on Earth was fading
And fading as the tumor grew.

Give us this day our daily bread

Give us one more day.
Though he can't walk, can't remember what this day even is.
Give us two more, three more,
Give us a lifetime.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

I started to think it was God who was the trespasser.
I was told my dad died for a reason.
"God wanted him with Him."
Not only trespassing, but kidnaping, torturing . . .
Murdering.
How can I forgive that?

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

My father died,
And with that Our Father died too.
And I have been delivered.

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