Distance and Company
Let me keep my distance, always, from thosewho think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.
(excerpted from Mary Oliver's poem, "Mysteries, Yes," found in her book Evidence)
My Great Strides Prayer
How blessed I am to count Calleigh and Ryder among my grandchildren. How they fill me with joy and pride. But as you know, they face the daily challenge presented by Cystic Fibrosis. So, Lord, I beg you for your help in my family's Great Strides efforts this year, that my family's efforts may play a part in the eradication of this disease very soon.
Please guide me in my efforts to get the word out. Help me meet my goal for donations of $5,000 or more. Grant that matching gifts may multiply our efforts. Bless every kind and generous person who prays and gives to our efforts. Most of all, please make this year's Great Strides efforts a success from your perspective, and use our efforts--and every donation--to bring about a cure, in Jesus' name, amen.
Adoring
Bending lower, lower still;
Giving up my all to follow,
Just to do my Master's will.
Today's Surrender
Lord, take my lips and speak through them;
take my mind and think through it;
take my heart and set it on fire.
Amen.
(a prayer of W. H. Aitken; photo by Tobias Rademacher via Unsplash.com)
A Spacious Place
given me a dream wife--no, a wife beyond dreaming--
and children and grandchildren who make my heart swell,
set me among people who love you and long to serve you,
linked me with the best coworkers in the world,
and saved, sustained, helped, and prospered me every step of my way.
Lord, you are my rock and my salvation,
my God, in whom I trust.
You have done marvelous, marvelous things,
and that my soul knows right well.
(photo by Maria Teneva via Unsplash.com)
That We May Be Children of Light
Our loving Father, from Thy hand have come all the days of the past. To Thee we look for whatever good the future holds. We are not satisfied with the world as we have found it. It is too little the kingdom of God as yet. Grant us the privilege of a part in its regeneration. We are looking for a new earth in which dwells righteousness. It is our prayer that we may be children of light, the kind of people whose coming and ministry the world is waiting. Amen. (from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project, "Prayers" section)
Gilded Clay
What upon trust
Is styled honor, riches, or fair eyes;
But is--fair dust!
I surname them gilded clay,
Dear earth, fine grass or hay.
(a prayer of George Herbert; photo by Nick Karvounis via unsplash.com)
Direct My Steps
May it be Your will, Lord, My God and God of my ancestors, to lead me, to direct my steps, and to support me in peace. Lead me in life, tranquil and serene, until I arrive at where I am going. Deliver me from every enemy, ambush and hurt that I might encounter on the way and from all afflictions that visit and trouble the world. Bless the work of my hands. Let me receive divine grace and those loving acts of kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all those I encounter. Listen to the voice of my appeal, for you are a God who responds to prayerful supplication. Praised are you, Lord, who responds to prayer.(Photo: a copy, in Hebrew, of the Traveler's Prayer (prescribed in the Talmud), found in a 1940's era C-47B-5-DK plane, used in the Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War)
Keep Me Bent
from myself
my settled self
unsettle me
bring to end of rope
but only
if you
are at the end.
My procrastinating self
that can so easy find
side roads
that are more interesting
even ones where
errands can be run.
Send me back to
my comfort loving self
uncomfort me
pull the covers from me
on cold night
that I may wake. Starve my body
that my soul may feast.
My proud self.
Give me grace to bend myself
And keep me bent
lest you should one day
bend me to the breaking point.
My righteous self
show me sin
that lurks beneath
my conscious thought
motivating
that pushes me
to settling
comfort pride
and self
rationalizing self
that finds excuse
for what I do
and don't.
Save me from myself
Save me so that
self may die
and save me
from pride
that self is dead.
(a prayer of Joseph Bayly, from Psalms of My Life; photo by retepwal via unsplash.com)
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