Clasp
And never murmur or repine,
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since it is your hand leading me.
(from the hymn, He Leadeth Me,
by Joseph Henry Gilmore, slightly updated;
photo via pixabay.com)
Spirit Wind
teach me please not to be blown around
on the waves of circumstances,
but to sail solely
by the wind
of the Spirit,
in Jesus' name, amen.
(photo courtesy of my friend Willa Patterson)
Saturday Psalm 108
I will sing
and make melody in my heart.
I will put the sweetest songbirds
to shame today;
I will awaken the dawn.
I will glorify you, O LORD, everywhere I go;
I will sing your praise
in front of anybody,
because your love
is enormous,
immense,
greater than the expanse of the universe.
So why shouldn't your praise be likewise
lifted above the heavens?
I can't possibly give you the glory you deserve.
Save us, Lord, and help us with your right hand,
show your love by working wonders for us.
You spoke from your sanctuary;
you promised to give your people victory,
and lead us into a spacious place.
And you have certainly done so,
but we still struggle so much.
Sometimes our salvation seems so fragile,
and our deliverance so far off.
Send us help against the enemy,
for all human help is worthless.
With you, Lord, we will gain the victory,
we will do valiantly,
and you will trample on our foes!
(photo via pixabay.com)
Readiness
Blessed be Thou, most gracious God, that again Thou hast brought light out of darkness and caused the morning to appear! Blessed be Thou that Thou dost send me forth, in health and vigour, to the duties and doings of another day! Go with me, I beseech Thee, through all the sunlit hours, and so protect me from every evil way that, when evening comes, I need not hide my head in shame. O Thou who hast so graciously called me to be Thy servant, I would hold myself in readiness to-day for Thy least word of command. Give me the spirit, I pray Thee, to keep myself in continual training for the punctual fulfillment of Thy most holy will.
Let me keep the edges of my mind keen:
Let me keep my thinking straight and true:
Let me keep my passions in control:
Let me keep my will active:
Let me keep my body fit and healthy:
Let me remember Him whose meat it was to do the will of Him that sent Him.
O Lord of the vineyard, I beg Thy blessing upon all who truly desire to serve Thee by being diligent and faithful in their several callings, bearing their due share of the world's burden, and going about their daily tasks in all simplicity and uprightness of heart.
For all who tend flocks or till the soul:
For all who work in factories or in mines:
For all who buy and sell in the market-place:
For all who labour with their brains:
For all who labour with their pens:
For all who tend the hearth:
Dear Lord, I pray.
In Thy great mercy save us all from the temptations that do severally beset us, and bring us to everlasting life, by the power of the Holy Cross. Amen.
(a prayer of John Baillie in A Diary of Private Prayer
Enter
My soul is like a house, small for you to enter, but I pray you to enlarge it. It is in ruins, but I ask you to remake it. It contains much that you will not be pleased to see: this I know and do not hide. But who is to rid it of these things?
(A prayer of St. Augustine of Hippo, from his Confessions, Book 5.1; photo via pixabay.com)
Holy Mountain
Lord, bring me todayto your holy mountain,
to Mount Zion,
to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem,
to God himself,
to Jesus,
the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people,
and to the sprinkled blood,
which graciously forgives.
(based on Isaiah 66:20, Hebrews 12:22-24; painting: Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, by David Roberts in 1842, Library of Congress)
Saturday Psalm #107
for you are good, good, good;
your love goes on and on.
Let all the redeemed say so,
and say so loudly—
all those whom you redeemed
from the hand of our foes,
all those you gathered
out of the darkness,
and brought from distant places
to your side.
You have redeemed those who wandered in wastelands,
empty and alone.
You have redeemed those who were hungry and thirsty,
and feeling their lives ebbing away.
But when we cried out to you in our trouble,
you delivered us from our distress.
You have certainly led me by a straight way
to find my home in you.
I give thanks to you, LORD, for your unfailing love
and your wonderful works in my life,
for you satisfy my thirst
and fill me with good things.
Without you, I would be sitting in darkness
and deepest gloom,
a prisoner in chains of my own making,
the victim of my own rebellion,
suffering for my failure to heed the counsel of the Most High.
I deserve nothing but bitter labor,
the most severe punishment.
But I cried to you, LORD,
and you gave me light for darkness,
beauty for ashes,
joy for sorrow,
clean robes for my filthy rags.
You brought me out of darkness
and deepest gloom
and broke my chains.
I give you thanks, LORD, for you are good, good, good;
your love goes on and on,
for you burst through my prison walls
and cut through bars of iron.
Without you, I would be a fool
confounded by my own rebellious ways
and suffering because of my many sins.
I would be too sick to enjoy anything,
and would loathe my life.
But I cried to you, LORD,
and you delivered me,
you spoke your word and healed me;
you brought my life out of the grave.
I give thanks to you, LORD, for your unfailing love
and your wonderful works in my life.
I will sacrifice to you
as a way of giving thanks;
I will tell of your works
with exuberant songs.
Like others, I have been on the sea in ships;
I have seen your power
displayed in the mighty waters.
I have seen your works, LORD,
in the panoply of the heavens,
in the fecundity of the forest,
in the silence before the storm,
in the intricacy of an insect.
I have seen you work in a human soul,
in a frail human body,
in a miraculous work of grace.
I give you thanks, LORD,
for your marvelous love,
for your miraculous mercy to me.
I will lift your praises high and loud
when the people assemble,
and will praise you in the council of the elders.
You turn rivers into a desert,
flowing springs into thirsty ground,
and fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of men.
But you also turn the desert into pools of water
and parched ground into flowing springs
for those who wait on you
and please you.
Please tell me we've seen enough
oppression, calamity and sorrow for now.
Lift the needy out of their affliction
and increase their families like flocks.
Let the upright see and rejoice,
but all the wicked--shut their mouths!
Make us wise,
in the things that matter to you,
and show to us your great love, O Lord.
Amen.
(photo via pixabay.com)
Broke Through
Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new,
late have I loved you!
You were within me, but I was outside,
and it was there that I searched for you.
In my unloveliness
I plunged into the lovely things which you created.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
Created things kept me from you;
yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all.
You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness.
You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness.
You breathed your fragrance on me;
I drew in breath and now I pant for you.
I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.
You touched me, and I burned for your peace.
(A prayer of St. Augustine of Hippo, from his Confessions)
Right Spirit
O Lord and Master of my life,give me not the spirit of laziness,
despair,
lust of power,
and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of sobriety,
humility,
patience
and love
to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own transgressions
and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.
(A prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, 305-373)
To Be Your Failure
I choose to be Your failurebefore anyone else's success.
Keep me from reneging
on my choice.
Amen.
(excerpted from "A Psalm Requesting Faith," in Psalms of My Life by Joseph Bayly)
On Robin's Birthday
Abba, you have granted me the loveliest bride,the perfect woman for me, and I am grateful.
Bless her abundantly, extravagantly, today, on her birthday.
As your beauty and grace lives in her
and exudes from her,
let her feel your approval in every way
on this day and in all the days to come.
Smile on her. Rejoice over her. Thrill her and fill her
with the awareness of your pleasure
and the rich appreciation of her husband, family, and many friends,
in Jesus' name, amen.
Saturday Psalm #106
I praise you, Lord. I give you thanks,
for your unending goodness,
your unceasing love.
Your works are beyond words, Lord.
No language on earth is adequate
to declare all the praise you deserve.
You give joy and satisfaction to those who do justice,
those who walk in righteousness.
Remember me, Abba, when you're in the mood
to show favor to your children;
help me when you're in a helping state of mind.
Prosper me and mine
when you're handing out your good gifts,
and send us joy unspeakable
any time you want.
I know I'm just a lowly sinner,
like my ancestors before me,
my spiritual and physical antecedents.
Like Israel in Egypt,
we have been blind to your wonderful works;
we easily forget the abundance of your steadfast love,
as they did at the Red Sea.
But you still saved them, didn't you?
You showed your power for the sake of your name.
You rebuked the Red Sea, and it rolled back, became dry;
you led them through the deep as through a desert.
You saved them from their foe,
and delivered them from their enemy,
and they responded with praise.
Do as much for me,
that I might do as much for you.
Let me not forget your works,
or fail to wait for your counsel.
Let me not put you to the test,
and invite disaster with selfish prayers.
Save me from jealousy,
like those who complained against Moses and Aaron.
Save me from factionism,
like that of Abiram.
Save me from idolatry,
like those who made a calf at Horeb
and worshipped a cast image.
They exchanged your glory
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
But I more readily forget you, my Savior,
when I put my faith in the approval of man,
the techniques of others,
in financial security,
and other such things.
Save me, Lord,
from despising your good land,
your faithfulness to fulfill your promise.
Save me from foolish idolatry like theirs,
and empty sacrifices.
Save me from going through the motions,
save me from grieving or quenching your Holy Spirit.
Teach me to stand up like Phinehas,
and root out all sin and temptation from my life
as you intended--and commanded--Israel to do.
Save me from the snares that surround me,
and from compromising with evil.
You are my deliverer,
as you were theirs.
You have never forgotten your promises to me,
and never wavered in your love.
Save me, O LORD my God;
bring me into my inheritance,
that I may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.
I praise you, LORD, God of Israel,
God of me,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
Submerge
in the darkness of your love,
that the consciousness
of my false, everyday self
falls away from [me]
like a soiled garment. . . .
May my 'deep self' fall into your presence . . . .
knowing you alone . . .
carried away into eternity
like a dead leaf in the November wind.
(Thomas Merton, The Ascent to Truth, p. 238)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)