Straws on the tide

Lord, we ask your loving kindness for the people we love who are far away. Keep them alive, and keep them growing in goodness and good name. And help us stay worthy of their love. For Jesus’ sake, don’t let the people we love be ashamed of us, or us of them. Give us just that, and give us courage to face smaller troubles without being shaken, and to accept death, loss and disappointment as if they were straws floating on the tide of life. Amen.