I feel like I am hypersensitive to prayer possibilities during Lent. Everything inspires another prayer.

On the night before Ash Wednesday, I attended a high school swim meeting. It was Senior Night, the home team’s final meet. The bleachers were full of family and friends. The home team was winning in unexpected fashion. The energy was good.

In a high school meet, the strongest swimmers compete in the center lane. The less experienced, less confident swimmers travel in the outside lanes. But while the Senior Night triumph was being shaped in the center lanes, I noticed one of the coaches spending the evening supporting athletes in the outside lanes.

Coach was encouraging. Coach was connecting. I could see something positive happening in conversations before and after each race. The swimmers in the outside lane were being valued. Those swimmers were being seen. As their season ended, they walked away knowing their work, their dedication, their presence on the team, was appreciated and affirmed.

Can you remember being in high school, feeling invisible and ineffective, and hearing a teacher or a coach or a parent validate your work? I do. Encouraging words resonate.

I was inspired, and I found my first Lenten prayer. I found a prayer for all of us.

As the sun sets at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday, March 5, from wherever you are, with whomever wants to join you, let us pray together as we continue through the Lenten season.

“Lord, let us see each other, let us value each other, let us encourage and appreciate and support each other as we walk with you toward the cross. Let us see beyond the center lanes. Let us see the people moving in the outside lanes and ways to connect with them.”

The night following Ash Wednesday, I heard a youth group leader (a former coach!) talking to middle schoolers. She said, “Some people give up sweets or caffeine or screen time for Lent, but I’m giving up negativity. My negativity sometimes keeps me from getting closer to Jesus.”

Three days later, while attending a workshop in a church in Beaver County, I wandered into a middle school classroom. On the wall, I found some interesting posters: “Be as quick to pray as you are to text” and “Faith is like Wi-Fi; it’s invisible, but it has the power to connect you to what you need.” There was a third, my favorite:

CTR + ALT + DELETE
Control yourself
Alter your thinking
Delete negativity

In a youth leader’s voice, and again on a classroom wall, I found our second Lenten prayer. Lord, help us all to eliminate the negativity in our attitudes and relationships. Help us remove all the attitudes that keep us from moving closer to you.

It is Lent, a time for extra payer, so I am moved to attach a final prayer that we can share. I found it in World Day of Prayer literature. Sewickley UMC is hosting a World Day of Prayer event on March 1. This is taken from a prayer offered by people of Palestine. “In this time of war, we pray for the healing of hearts and the restoration of peace. May compassion prevail over hatred, and may the suffering of all those affected by the war be alleviated. Grant them strength, solace, and hope for a brighter and harmonious future. …You are our Saviour, the one who taught us the real meaning of peace. Guide us and give us power to practice peace in our daily lives. Amen.”

If we can encourage and affirm the people around us, and eliminate negativity from our thoughts, perhaps we can move closer to the place where compassion prevails and suffering is alleviated. Lord help us.