I  was humbled and honored to be asked to say the daily prayer on the last day of regulat session on May 1,2009. 

Dear Lord,

Let me begin this prayer this morning as my mother taughtme, first to give you thanks. Thank you for all you have given me and for allyou have given to my brothers and sisters in this Chamber. Thank you for thebreath we take in and out, thank you for the voices we will raise as we seek tofulfill our responsibilities and seek solutions to Florida's and the nation'sproblems today. Give us the grace to find solutions that you would find fittingand good. Thank you for all the people who work in this building and for ourstate. They work long and hard, with dedication and a heart for service totheir fellow Floridians.

Thank you Lord, for the first miracles of the day that youhave given us: The ability to get out of bed and get to work to do our dutyhere.

You have performed such miracles across this state thismorning, and will continue to do so across our nation and the globe.  We thank you for that.  We know that, with our fragile humanbodies, minds, and hearts that some of your children did not make it to worktoday. They have completed their work here on earth and you have called themhome to rest. We pray for the souls of Admiral Phillip Ashler, the downedofficers who gave their lives in the service of the people they were sworn toprotect.We pray for Dori Schlossberg and Katie Marschetti and their familiestoday.

We have every confidence that in your mercy and love thatyou have accepted those good souls into your loving arms with joy, love, andforgiveness. When our time comes, we pray that you will love us home too.

Please keep safe and in your care the soldiers and sailors,law enforcement officers and firefighters, who are willing to give their lives toprotect us and our way of life. Please bless especially, the nurses and doctorswho care for us when we are sick or hurt; they often make great sacrifices andtake personal risk to do so.

Dear Lord, You are father and mother to all your children,in all corners of the earth. Whether we call you Christ or Jaweh, or Allah or Buddha,or see you in the wind, and the sun, the sea, and the trees, we ask that youhelp us to remember that what unites us as your children is so much more thanwhat divides us. No matter how we call you, or how we imagine you in our mind'seye, what unites us is that you are most clear when we see love and kindnessamong ourselves, when we reach out to one another across the divide infriendship and common cause. We see you most clearly when we see you in ourbrothers and sisters.

We pray that you give us the vision to see you very clearlytoday when we seek, with the gifts and the power that you have allowed us, todo justice, to appreciate and protect the beauty of all that you have given us,to seek the wisdom to do what you would have us do. Dear Lord, give us thestrength to temper our passions, to have the serenity and peace in knowing thatall things will go well for those who truly reach out to you for guidance andcourage. Please Lord give us the strength and wisdom to transcend the smallnessour individual selves, our little worries and concerns, our own desires andwants and do what is right and good for those we are here to serve. We know youtell us in many ways that "What you do to the least of my children, you do tome also."

And as Native American, Chief Seattle said in an earliercentury let us remember today:

"And things are connected like the blood which unites usall.

  Man did notweave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it.

  Whatever hedoes to the web, he does to himself."

                                                     ChiefSeattle 1855

Let us remember all this most clearly and well as we goabout our business today.

Amen.