Friday, February 28, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, February 28, 2014

Do

O God,

We have things to do today. If today is like most days we will have things to do that we want to do and things to do that we don’t want to do and things to do that seem important and things to do that seem unimportant.

Thank you for the gift of life that gives us the opportunity to do anything at all.
Thank you for the gifts of life that give us the ability to do anything at all.

Give us grace to see every second of life as the gracious privilege that it is.
Give us grace to treat every action as a response to your grace and as an expression of our thanks.

Fill our hearts with gratitude and praise so that everything we do, however important or unimportant it seems and whatever level of enjoyment we derive from it, is an expression of thanksgiving to you.

Amen.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, February 27, 2014

Today

O God,

Thank you for this day

that we have never had before,
that we will never have again, and
that is the only one we have.

Help us to make the most of it; help us to grow

toward being who we truly are,
toward loving you with all we are and our neighbor as ourselves, and
toward full awareness of your presence.

Amen.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Direct/Indirect

O God,

We crave direct contact with you; we crave direct encounters with your Spirit, your grace, and your love. Thank you for those times when we sense that such direct contact is established, whether we experience it in an ongoing way or only for a moment.

Thank you also for those times when we experience your presence indirectly, when we experience you as you are reflected in your creation, in seeming coincidences, in opportunities and challenges, and in people. Help us to value such indirect contact with you as much as we value direct contact with you.

Teach us always to look for you, for you are surely always here.

Amen.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, February 25, 2014

All

O God,

Thank you for all of it.

Thank you—

--for what we have learned from it and for what we have yet to learn from it;
--for the constant struggle and for the occasional insight;
--for every second that is gone and for every second that remains;
--for days when you seem to be right there and for days when you seem to be far away; and
--for times that we grope in the dark and for moments when we see the light.

Thank you for all of it.

Amen.

Monday, February 24, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, February 24, 2014

Conversation

O God,

Thank you for the blessing of engaging in conversation with you.

Help us to grow toward having such conversation be a constantly occurring reality.

When we forget to talk with you and realize that we have forgotten, help us quickly to lay aside our disappointment and to move back into our conversation with you.

Help us to grow toward having our every thought be a prayer.

Amen.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, February 23, 2014

The Lord’s Day

O God,

As we worship you today, cause us to remember—or perhaps to realize—that we are connected to everything and everyone that lives, including you.

Amen.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, February 22, 2014

Already/Not Yet

O God,

Thank you for what we already know incompletely; help us to trust in all that we do not yet—but some day will—know completely.

Thank you for what we already see dimly; help us to live toward all that we do not yet—but some day will—see clearly.

Thank you for how we already love imperfectly; help us to grow toward the way that we do not yet—but some day will—love perfectly.

Amen.

Friday, February 21, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, February 21, 2014

Glimpses

O God,

Thank you for those glimpses that we get

into how the pieces all fit together,
into what it all might mean, and
into the working out of your purposes.

We think we want to understand much more completely—
but perhaps glimpses are all we can stand.

Give us grace to do our part to help,
even when we don’t know what our part is or
what it is that we are helping with.

Amen.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, February 20, 2014

Holy

O God,

Develop in us an ever-deepening sense of reverence that we might grow in being constantly aware of the presence of the holy above us, below us, around us, and within us.

Amen.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Particular/Universal

O God,

We have our blessings and our joys; we have wonderful experiences and beautiful realities that are particularly ours. Thank you!

We also have our hurts and our grief; we have terrible experiences and painful realities that are particularly ours. Help us!

Use our particular joys and hurts to remind us that everyone else has theirs, too. Make us mindful that while our joys and hurts are ours, the experience of joys and hurts is universal.

Show us how to appreciate and to revel in our particular joy and to live in and through our particular pain without valuing them over those that belong to others—and so without valuing ourselves over others.

Show us how to live compassionately and creatively in our particularity and in our universality.

Amen.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Life

O God,

Thank you for those moments when we are open to life, for when we are open to

something new,
something different,
something challenging,
something mysterious,
something adventurous,
something risky,
something fun,
something painful,
something sacrificial,
something gracious,
something loving,
something other, and
something else.

May those moments increase …

Amen.

Monday, February 17, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, February 17, 2014

Today

O God,

Thank you for

the rising sun,
the promising day,
the inspiring possibilities, and
the enlivening challenges.

Help us to live today and all days with

great trust,
great hope, and
great love.

Amen.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Lord’s Day

O God,

If we catch a glimpse of who you truly are, if we catch a glimpse—

of your majesty as exhibited in your creation,
of your love as seen in your crucified Son,
of your power as shown in the resurrection of your Son,
of your presence as experienced in the gift of your Holy Spirit, and
of your unity as seen in the fellowship of your Church,

we will be in awe of you.

Let us be in awe of you today.

Amen.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, February 15, 2014

Truth

O God,

Give us the best insight we can have

so that

we can speak the best words we can speak

and

live the best life we can live

that will

reflect the best truth we can know.

Amen.

Friday, February 14, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, February 14, 2014

O God,

Let It Flow

Help us not to try to dam up the blessings we receive from you; help us to know and to live in light of the truth that water with no outlet becomes stagnant and putrid.

Help us rather to let your blessings flow through us to others; help us to be channels of your blessings, of your love, grace, mercy, and peace, so that others might have what they need and so that our lives will have the kind of freshness and vibrancy that come only through generosity.

Amen.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, February 13, 2014

Insight

O God,

Grant us insight

into ourselves,
into other people,
into situations,
but especially
into your ways in the world

not so we can be smart
but
so we can be wise.

Then grant us grace to put such wisdom to good use

in loving you with all we are
and
in loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Amen.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Purpose

O God,

Help us to be purposeful in our prayers; let our purpose be to bring it all to you and to ask you to help us in and with all of it.

But let our main purpose be to want your purposes to be carried out; let our main purpose be to want nothing more than—and to move toward wanting nothing other than—your will to be done.

Amen.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Feet

O God,

Thank you that most of the time we can put one foot in front of the other. And thank you that even when we have moments that we can’t put one foot in front of the other, we eventually get to where we can.

Thank you for those times when we actually recognize the road less travelled. And thank you for those times when we muster the courage to tell our feet to go that way.

Thank you for those moments of insight when we are so very grateful to have feet. Thank you for when that gratitude inspires us to be concerned about those who have no shoes—or no feet—or who lack anything else we take for granted—so that we get our feet moving in ways that help.

Amen.

Monday, February 10, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, February 10, 2014

Notice

O God,

Give us in this week and in all weeks the kind of eyes and spirit that notice the many good gifts that surround and permeate our lives.

Help us to notice

the sunrise and the sunset,
the breeze and the stillness,
the animals and the birds,
the friends and the neighbors,
the spirit and the Spirit,
the challenges and the opportunities,
and
the love and the grace

that are all around us.

Amen.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Let our worship of you draw us deeper into the great story you are living in creation, in history, and in us.

Amen.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, February 8, 2014

Failure

O God,

Help us to embrace our failures; help us to give ourselves over to faith that causes us to try and fail rather than to give ourselves over to fear that causes us not to try.

Help us to embrace our failures; help us to admit them so that we can learn from them rather than deny them so that we don’t make progress through them.

Help us to embrace our failures; help us to fail at our efforts that come from our desire to love you and to love others rather than to succeed at efforts that come from any lesser desire.

Amen.

Friday, February 7, 2014

A Prayer for Friday, February 7, 2014

Open

O God,

When life tries to close us up, by your grace open us up instead.

When fear tries to close us up, by your grace open us up to faith instead.
When hurt tries to close us up, by your grace open us up to forgiveness instead.
When brokenness tries to close us up, by your grace open us up to wholeness instead.
When guilt tries to close us up, by your grace open us up to mercy instead.
When greed tries to close us up, by your grace open us up to generosity instead.
When lust tries to close us up, by your grace open us up to love instead.
When death tries to close us up, by your grace open us up to life instead.

When life tries to close us up, by your grace open us up instead.

Amen.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

A Prayer for Thursday, February 6, 2014

Useless

O God,

Make me

empty,
weak,
and
useless

or perhaps make me aware and accepting of my

emptiness,
weakness,
and
uselessness

so that I can know that it’s all

from you
and
not about me

and so I can be open to all you want to do

through
and
beyond

my strengths
and
abilities.

Amen.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

A Prayer for Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Reality

O God,

Help us to stay in some kind of touch with reality—with the real reality.

Help us to grow in our awareness of

who you truly are,
who we truly are,
and—though it may be too much to ask—
who others truly are.

Help us to break through or to squirm through all the stuff that we come up with to try to hide ourselves

from you,
from ourselves, and
from each other.

Maybe we can’t take the really real.

But give us the desire and the courage to move toward it anyway.

Amen.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

A Prayer for Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Light

O God,

Shine a light
in our spirit
by your Spirit

a light
that will shine forth
in the darkness

so that people,
when they see the light,
might have hope
rekindled.

We have enough darkness.

Let there be more light.

Amen.

Monday, February 3, 2014

A Prayer for Monday, February 3, 2014

Baggage

O God,

We all have our baggage—we have those mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual repositories in which we carry around the experiences, the wounds, the lessons, the triumphs, the defeats, the guilt, the mercies, and the joys of the past.

Show us how, by your grace, to sort through what’s in our baggage so as to keep what we need and to discard what we don’t. Help us to see that such sorting and keeping does not mean keeping just that which is easy to carry; what is helpful might still be hard to bear.

We don’t ask not to have any baggage but we do ask that it be neither so heavy that we have trouble moving into our future nor so light that we don’t take adequate account of our past.

Let our baggage be a helpful and positive tool rather than a hurtful and negative burden.

Amen.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

A Prayer for Sunday, February 2, 2014

The Lord’s Day

O God,

Thank you for the privilege of coming before you in worship today.

May we come and go in awe of

your majesty,
your glory,
your holiness,
your grace,
your love,
your forgiveness, and
your mercy.

Amen.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

A Prayer for Saturday, February 1, 2014

Mark

O God,

Remind us that when we touch someone, we leave a mark.

If our touch hurts,
we leave a scar—
a reminder of the pain that we inflicted.

If our touch helps,
we leave an impression—
a reminder of the care we provided.

If we don’t touch,
we leave nothing—
a reminder that we did nothing.

Give us grace to touch others and to do so in ways
that help
and
that don’t hurt.

Amen.