For Mia's Birthday
my amazing, wonderful granddaughter, Mia, is.
Please watch over her, especially today on her 16th birthday.
Bless and guide her wherever she is,
everywhere she goes,
keeping her as lovely and kind as she is today
even as you increase her in wisdom, learning, and skill.
Continue to make her strong in faith and conduct.
Comfort her when she's sad or discouraged.
Lift her when she stumbles.
Continue to surround her with friends and family
who respect, value, and love her.
And may the peace that passes understanding
and joy unspeakable
fill her heart and her days,
both now and ever more,
in Jesus' name, amen.
Beauty, Delight, and Joy
O my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Thou Thyself, Creator of all!
(a prayer of Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain)
Gentle Rain
Almighty God my King,please let me feel
the warmth of your smile
on all I do today;
let your favor refresh my heart
like a gentle rain. Amen.
(based on Proverbs 16:15)
An Eighth Century Prayer
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance,
now and always:
Thou and Thou only,
first in my heart,
High King of heaven,
my Treasure Thou art.
(Author unknown, 8th Century; translated from ancient Irish to English by Mary E. Byrne, in “Eriú,” Journal of the School of Irish Learning, 1905)
Valentine
floating from a sun-filled sky,
draping airy-white on flowered fields,
Your love astonished me.
No frilly show,
no assorted-chocolate pledge,
no candy hearts or silver kisses
disclosed your care for me;
But unsparing,
cross-bearing,
thorn-wearing love
that opened hands and feet and side
to spill your heart for me,
To recreate,
inundate my longing soul
with giving, holding, accepting,
enfolding love for me.
(photo by stux via pixabay.com)
Lord, Lay Some Soul Upon My Heart
And love that soul through me;
And may I bravely do my part
To win that soul for Thee.
Nina
Lord, thank you for the wonderful wife you gave to my son,
the mother you gave to my grandchildren Miles and Mia,
the daughter-in-law you gave to me and Robin,
the blessing you gave this world in bringing Nina into it.
Grant that she may rest in the knowledge that she is loved,
she is yours,
she is enough,
she is blessed and a blessing.
Shower on her every blessing today on her birthday
and every day that is to come,
in Jesus' name, amen.
The Cause of Your Journey
Remember, merciful Jesu,
that I am the cause of your journey.
(a prayer from Mozart's Requiem)
I Am Desired to Preach Today
I am desired to preach today,
but go weak and needy to my task;
Yet I long that people
might be edified with divine truth,
that an honest testimony
might be borne for thee;
Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,
with heart uplifted for grace and unction.
Present to my view
things pertaining to my subject,
with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency,
a feeling sense of the things I preach,
and grace to apply them to men’s consciences.
Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,
and let me not gloat in pride
over my performance.
Help me to offer a testimony for thyself,
and to leave sinners inexcusable
in neglecting thy mercy.
Give me freedom to open the sorrows of thy people,
and set before them comforting considerations.
Attend with power the truth preached.
and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.
May thy people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted,
and help me to use the strongest arguments
drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,
that men might be made holy.
I myself need thy support, comfort, strength, holiness,
that I might be a pure channel of thy grace,
and be able to do something for thee;
Give me then refreshment among thy people,
and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,
or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer,
or be harsh in treating of Christ’s death, its design and end,
from lack of warmth and fervency.
And keep me in tune with thee as I do this work.
(from The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers, edited by Arthur Bennett; photo is of the pulpit in Worms Cathedral, Worms, Germany)
I Love You As
I love you, Lord, with all my heart.
I love you as a child loves a perfect father.
I love you as a slave loves his redeemer.
I love you as a near-victim loves the rescuer,
as an orphan the adopter,
as a wanderer the guide,
as a student the teacher,
as a lover the beloved.
Grant that today
I may love you even more,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(photo by Janosch Diggelmann via Unsplash.com)
For That Great Love
I have not much to give Thee, Lord,
For that great love which made Thee mine;
I have not much to give Thee, Lord,
But all I have is Thine.
(a prayer from a song by Richard Slater; photo by jontyson via Unsplash.com)
Expose and Depose
Lord God, there is so much hate and violence,
so many lies,
and so much corruption in this world,
and so much of it
so well financed and organized.
Expose it all, Lord.
Depose the corrupt.
Deliver us from evil,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(photo illustration by Will Porada via unsplash.com)
For My Sins, Which are Many and Manifold
Framer of the world,
I set thee, Lord, before me,
and unto Thee do I lift up my soul.
I worship Thee on my knees,
and humble myself under Thy mighty hand.
I stretch forth my hands unto Thee:
my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land.
I smite upon my breast,
and say, with the publican,
God be merciful to me a sinner,
the chief of sinners;
to the sinner above the publican
be merciful, as to the publican.
Father of mercies, I beseech Thy fatherly pity,
despise me not,
an unclean worm, a dead dog, a body of death;
despise not Thou the work of Thine own hands;
despise not Thine own image,
though bearing the brands of sin.
Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.
Lord, speak the word only, and I shall be healed.
And Thou, my Saviour Christ,
Christ my Saviour,
Saviour of sinners, of whom I am chief,
despise me not; despise me not, O Lord,
who am purchased with Thy blood,
called by Thy name;
but look on me with those eyes
with which Thou didst look upon
Magdalene at the feast,
Peter in the hall,
the thief on the cross:
that with the thief I may entreat Thee humbly,
Lord, remember me when Thou comest
into Thy kingdom;
that with Peter I may weep bitterly and say,
O that mine eyes were a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night;
that with Magdalene I may hear Thee say,
Thy sins are forgiven thee,
and with her may love much,
for my sins, which are many and manifold,
are forgiven.
And Thou, all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit,
despise me not, Thy breath,
despise not Thine own holy things;
but return, O Lord; how long?
and let it repent Thee concerning Thy servant.
(a prayer of Lancelot Andrewes, from Lancelot Andrewes and His Private Devotions)
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