a prayer

I promise to always try to live with an open heart and to love deeply, no matter how many times I am hurt, no matter how often I am told that I am not worth being loved in return.

I promise to accept that loving with an open heart means that I am vulnerable, that the two go hand in hand.  But I will not apologize for my vulnerability to those who reject me, nor will I accept that I am to blame for it, for I know that vulnerability is what allows me to love as I do.

I will not apologize for needing to be loved, nor for asking for it, or hoping for it, or even expecting it when I've been given reason to.  But if it is my lot to always have to do without, then I promise that I will try very hard to make my own loving be that which fulfills my need.