A prayer for grief

God, I miss someone I love. Their absence is in the quiet parts of the day and in the moments I want to tell them something. I bring you the love that has nowhere familiar to go.

Please stay near me in this sorrow. Receive my tears, my anger and the questions I am afraid to say aloud. Help me remember without forcing myself to feel a certain way. Give me room to laugh at a memory and to cry a moment later.

Help me with the ordinary things that feel difficult now: eating, resting, answering a message, asking someone to stay. Bring patient people who do not need me to hurry. Give me gentleness toward others whose grief looks different from mine. I cannot make sense of everything today. I ask for comfort, for company and for enough strength for the next hour. Receive my love for the person I miss, and this small prayer. Amen.