Come to Your Beloved Ones

 

My Refuge, My Shield

 

Even Though

 

Lord of Hosts

Portion and Cup

 

Clinging

 

The Joy of Your Presence

 

Need of the Day

 

By the Other Light Supreme

Lord, loosen in me the hold of visible things;

   Help me to walk by faith and not by sight;

I would, through thickest veils and coverings,

   See into the chambers of the living light.

Lord, in the land of things that swell and seem,

   Help me to walk by the other light supreme,

Which shows Thy facts behind man's vaguely hinting dream.

(a prayer by George MacDonald, from The Diary of an Old Soul; photo by Arcaion via pixabay.com)

Thank You for Summer

Father, Creator of all,

thank You for summer! 

Thank You for the warmth of the sun and the increased daylight. 

Thank You for the beauty I see all around me and for the opportunity to be outside and enjoy Your creation. 

Thank You for the increased time I have to be with my friends and family, and for the more casual pace 
of the summer season. 

Draw me closer to You this summer.

Teach me how I can pray no matter
where I am or what I am doing.

Warm my soul with the awareness of
Your presence and light my path with
Your Word and Counsel.

As I enjoy Your creation, create in
me a pure heart and a hunger
and a thirst for You.
Amen.

(author unknown; image by jonathansautter via pixabay.com)

Good Good Father

Further Grace

O God, I have tasted your goodness and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune god, I want to want you; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me your glory, I pray, so that I may know you indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow you up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(a prayer of A. W. Tozer, revised slightly; photo by Free-Photos via pixabay.com)

Preserve

 

For A/C

Lord, for the minds that created air conditioning 

and the difference it makes in my life, 

I give you thanks. 

Amen. 

(photo illustration by santiagotorrescl95 via pixabay.com)

Inheritance

 

Actiones Nostras

We beg You, O Lord, to initiate and anticipate our actions, 

and help us in them and follow up on them, 

so that our every service always flows from You, 

and all we begin is brought to conclusion through You. 

Amen.

(from the Gregorian Sacramentary; photo by cocoparisienne via pixabay.com)

Thin Place

O God,

make of my heart,

my marriage,

my family,

my home, 

and my church,

a thin place.

Amen.

(based on an incident related to Evelyn Underhill by a friend who had been to the Isle of Iona and there heard a local gardener say, “Iona is a very thin place.” She asked, “What do you mean?” The gardener, a Scotsman, said, “It's a thin place, because there is not much between Iona and the Lord”; photo by mcbeaner via pixabay.com)

The Blessing

Lord of My Life, Whose Tender Care

Lord of my life, whose tender care

Has led me on till now,

Here lowly at the hour of prayer

Before your throne I bow;

I bless your gracious hand, and pray

Forgiveness for another day.

Oh, may I daily, hourly, strive

In heavenly grace to grow;

To you and to your glory live,

Dead to all else below;

Tread in the path my Savior trod,

Though thorny, yet the path to God.

With prayer my humble praise I bring

For mercies day by day;

Lord! teach my heart your love to sing,

Lord! teach me how to pray;

And all I am, and all I own,

Entrust to you alone.

(a prayer by an anonymous hymnwriter, slightly updated and revised; photo by josemdelaa via pixabay.com)

My Lamp and Light

 

For Miles

Lord, thank you for my first grandchild,

my grandson, 

Miles Jacob Hostetler, who turns fourteen years old today.

Thank you for all you have made him to be:

healthy, strong, charming, sweet, sensitive, smart, wonderful.

Thank you for all you have given him:

caring, wise, attentive, loving parents,

a sister who loves him and will even say so,

a family that loves to be around him and spend time with him,

an active and brilliant mind,

a fascination with bugs and beasts and birds,

and a warm home, good school, and lovely church.

Thank you that he's so great as to make missing him so hard.

Thank you that he's growing so fast and learning so much 

as to make me insanely jealous of those who get to watch it happen day by day and week by week.

Thank you that for the earliest years of his life I got to see him so often, almost daily at times.

Thank you that I'll get to see him soon, by your leave.

And thank you that even with the physical distance between us, we still enjoy a closeness that brings tears to my eyes. 

Please bless him mightily on his birthday, and on every day that follows it.

Please shine on him, smile on him, and slather him with your favor.

Please preserve his sweetness even as he grows up.

Please give him a great summer this year, and a blessed rest-of-the-year.

Please grant that he may grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Please draw him and keep him close to you, 

and grant his every need 

and make his dreams come true, 

in Jesus' name, amen.

Let Me Hear in the Morning

 

Nourishment

Give me that food, Lord,

the nourishment your first disciples knew nothing about (John 4:32);

give it to me daily,

momently,

now,

that sustenance that comes from communion with the Father,

and extending life to others,

amen.

(photo via everystockphoto.com)

Hidden

I Know Thee Who Thou Art

Maranatha

Come, Lord Jesus. 

Come quickly. 

Come to your church.

Come to us, the smug, the self-righteous. 

Come to us, the arrogant and self-satisfied. 

Come to us, the hurting who in their pain hurt others.

Come to the preachers with poison ideas and careless tongues.

Come to the misogynist and racist.

Come to the small-minded, 

to the legalistic, 

to the power hungry, 

to the unforgiving. 

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. 

Come save us. 

Transform us. 

Before we do worse.

Amen.

On My 44th Wedding Anniversary

O Lord God, 

it's so hard to believe how long--

and how high and wide and deep--

you have blessed me with my bride, 

my wife, the lovely Robin:  

through forty-four years of marriage, 

and forty-seven years together.

Thank you for yet another year of life together.

Thank you for her faithful,

giving,

loving,

kind,

passionate,

sweet,

constant heart.

Thank you for all

the happiness we've known together;

the sorrows we've faced together;

the children we've raised together 

and the grandchildren we've been so wonderfully given.

Thank you for our home, 

health,

laughter,

hopes and dreams,

our unfinished plans,

and our small accomplishments.

Thank you that she has stuck with me, never wavering in her support.

Thank you that I can still make her laugh, usually.

Thank you that she grows more beautiful every day.

Thank you for all of her perfections,

and all of my improvements.

Spare us another year to walk together,

and grant that for us it may be true

that the best is yet to be,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Doors

Lord God Adonai, 

you open doors that no one can shut (Revelation 3:8), 

and shut doors that no one can open. 

I am waiting. 

I am watching. 

I am ready. 

Just please don't let me try to do your job 

instead of mine, 

in Jesus' name, amen.

What I Ought to Ask

Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of You, 

You alone know what I need; 

You love me better than I know how to love myself. 

Father! Give to Your child that which he himself knows not how to ask. 

I dare not ask either for crosses or consolations; 

I simply present myself before You. 

I open my heart to You. 

Behold my need, which I know not myself; 

see and do according to Your tender mercy. 

Smile or heal, depress me, or raise me up; 

I adore all Your purposes without knowing them: 

I am silent; 

I offer myself in sacrifice; 

I yield myself to You, 

I would have no other desire than to accomplish Your will. 

Teach me to pray. Pray in me.

(a prayer by François Fénelon, updated with contemporary language)

On June 1

Thank you, God, that 

"There is no price set on the lavish summer, 

And June may be had by the poorest comer." 

(from "The Vision of Sir Launfal" by James Russell Lowell)