Words of Wisdom from Victoria Chipps, a Lakota elder, from Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota and Godfrey’s mom. Excerpts from Grandma’s book “Pray from your Heart”.

Prayer Changes Things

Prayer changes things.

That’s why we have to pray.

Pray for every little thing.

We don’t take anything for granted.

We’re always thankful.

That is why we use the universal prayer,

Mitakuye Oyasin.

Walking Our Prayers

People pray from their hearts,

which means that their prayers are sincere.

And so as we pray sincerely,

we have to walk our prayers.

We have to be humble.

We have to have compassion for one another.

Living to be loving, to be giving.

And then we pray for all the good things

that we could do,

that we are supposed to do.

You know, that is walking our prayer.

We have to pray exactly like that.

We have to pray for good things to happen.

And then we have to walk our prayers.

We have to be humble.

We have to help.

If anybody needs a hand,

help him with whatever you can.

That’s walking our prayer.

Understanding

We pray for people

who are having a hard time out there.

Maybe some bring it on themselves

but we pray for them anyway

because we could not judge them.

We’re not supposed to judge anybody.

We pray for them.

We’re not supposed to criticize.

That’s part of Lakota understanding.

This is important.

If you don’t understand anything,

then what?

Who will you turn to?

People are praying for understanding

where spirituality is concerned.

They are trying to understand.

Don’t Worry About Tomorrow

In the Indian way, an Indian would say,

You’re not supposed to look back on the past.

You have to look to tomorrow

and for all the tomorrows that are coming.

You have to look forward.

Don’t worry about tomorrow

because Tunkashila is already there.

And if you call him, he’s there.

He’ll help you.

We have to pray more. We have to have faith.

I know that if everything seems hard,

there is always hope.

Because we are already praying

and our prayers are already up there.

I always say,

“If you worry about tomorrow,

don’t worry because God is already there.

Tunkashila are already there.

Don’t worry about tomorrow.”