Yes, I am Getting Older

This past year I have come to realize an important fact related to my life:  I am getting older.  My mind and my spirit have always made me feel like a young child – experiencing joy in the smallest things: still loving to splash in puddles, hear the birds, see a rainbow, slide down a slide, hear a silly joke … and so much more.  I don’t know if it the major health problems my husband and I have had to face this year, but for the first time in my life my mind is letting me know I am not young.  Senior moments are happening more often than I like and sometimes I let them cause me to worry and that takes the joy out of the day.  I am trying each day to surrender this getting older to God.  He is the one in control anyway, right?  When I can surrender, then once again I can laugh at those Senior moments, feel joy and continue to live each day as a servant of God and still splash in puddles with childlike joy!  And thus, my prayer today is a prayer I came across about growing older.

 

I don’t want to grow old God. I don’t want any part of it.But since I have no power to stop the clock, my prayer is this: Let me age with grace.

Show me the way, God. Be with me. Grant health to my body and clarity to my mind. Give me strength. Help me to overcome my vanity. Teach me to combat self-pity. Don’t allow me to become set in my ways. Shield me from isolation and from loneliness.

May the love of my family and friends be my reward for all the struggles of my youth.

Let all the blessings of age emanate from me. Let wisdom flow from my mouth, let compassion flow from my heart, let acts of kindness flow from my arms, let faith flow from my soul, let joy shine forth from my eyes.      

Amen.

by Rabbi Naomi Levy

A Christmas Prayer

 

May you be filled with the wonder of Mary,

the obedience of Joseph,

the joy of the angels,

the eagerness of the shepherds,

the determination of the Magi,

and the peace of the Christ Child.

 Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit bless you now and forever.

 Amen

From “Let’s Go Straight to Bethlehem” by Ray Pritchard

Overshadow Me

One line from tonight’s sermon is staying in my mind: “The same Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary and brought about the conception of God made man is the same spirit who transforms our bread and wine into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.”  I was stuck by the awesome power of the Holy Spirit.   I am so thankful for the ability we have to see God through Jesus and to receive him into our very being through the Eucharist.  I pray to be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that I too can be transformed.

Because he overshadows us with his presence.
We stay in the shelter of the almighty amen.
Thank you for your spirit.

Overshadow me in the shelter of Your wings
Holy Spirit cover me
Overshadow me, Overshadow me

I am overwhelmed; I can hardly take it in
I can hear Your still small voice
Whisper in the wind
Whisper in the wind

Overshadow me in the shelter of Your wings
Holy Spirit cover me
Overshadow me, Overshadow me

I am so afraid; Can this really be?
But according to Your word
Be it unto me
Be it unto me

Overshadow me in the shelter of Your wings
Holy Spirit cover me
Overshadow me, Overshadow me

Holy Spirit cover me
Overshadow me, Overshadow me

Christ in me.

The anointed one

Jesus safe and sweet
Hope and glory
Christ in me

(lyrics to a song by Mary Alessi)

Dweller in the Heart

You inhabit the totality of my being

So quietly I often forget you are there.

You occupy the corners where even I

Sometimes fear to enter and reside.

You abide in the midst of my weakness

And accept my endless efforts to change.

Oh, the mystery, the wonder, the power

Of your dwelling within my simple heart!

Thank you for the gift of your presence,

For the permanent lodging of your love.

Amen

by Alakanandra Devi

I Bow My Knee

One of my friends posted a link to a video of the song “Bow My Knee” today on Facebook.  I have made it my prayer for today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are moments on my journey following You O Lord,

Where You illumine every step I take.

There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to me,

As I try to understand each move You make in my life.

Yet O Lord,

There are also days when clouds surround me, and the rain begins to fall,

When the cold and lonely winds won’t cease to blow.

Sometimes there seems to be no reason for the suffering I feel;

I am tempted to believe You do not know.

So Lord, 

I bow my knee;

I trust the heart of Your Father when the answer goes beyond what I can see.

I bow my knee;

I lift my eyes toward heaven and believe in my Father who holds eternity.

When I don’t understand the purpose of Your plan,

I bow my knee.

When storms arise, don’t let me forget to live by faith and not by sight.

When my path grows dim and my questions have no answers, I turn to You

and bow my knee.

 

~ Lyrics by Chris Machen and Mike Harland

O Holy Spirit – Fill My Sails

I have learned many, many times through some hard lessons that I can not make it in this world through my own strength.  I have learned to turn to God and His grace and Spirit to help me through.  Yet there are still times I am tempted to try to move through by my own power, forgetting that I have beside me the One who has infinite Power and who wants to empower me.

Lord, I can’t row this boat on my own.

I ask that Your Holy Spirit will fill my sail

and help me accomplish what I can’t accomplish in my own strength.

Fill me with Your Holy Spirit

so that I am carried along, by and under Your power.

Fill my mind and heart with Your Word

so that Your thoughts become my thoughts.

Filled me with Your Holy Spirit

so that I as I move through this day,

thought-by-thought, decision-by-decision, act-by-act,

I am empowered by You and You alone.

 Wherever Your Holy Spirit decides to move me

by blowing upon my sails of faith, I will go.

I will not take down my sails in fear nor in retreat.

I will not take down my sails to stop at a harbor because it looks comfortable,

but I will follow through.

I will stop only when and where the Holy Spirit stops filling my sails

–when I have reached my destiny, Your destiny, for my life.

Blow Spirit, blow!  Fill my sails!

AMEN!

Complete Darkness

“Christ is willing to not only call us out of darkness into light, but go into that darkness to find us. That is, after all, what he did in his cross. He went into the dark to find us and to forgive us.”
Father Steve Grunow

Dearest Jesus, my Lord and Savior,

Your life is pure gift.

You gave every piece of your very being for me…

Because you love me so much.

You went into the total darkness of death

So that I may have life,

To take my darkness away.

Lord, I offer to you this simple prayer of thanksgiving and praise.

I know that I will experience dark times

Which at times may threaten to overwhelm me.

Lord, I know that as long as I reach out to you,

You are there to guide me through

With the light of your love.

I pray for all of those I so dearly love

Who are experiencing darkness in their lives.

May they feel your presence.

May they reach out to You

in faith, in trust, in love,

To allow You to take them beyond

Their current darkness.

Your love has no end.

Help us to accept it as You give it –

with no conditions and in totality.

Amen!

Feet and Self-less love

Today’s gospel reading was of Mary washing/anointing Jesus’s feet with the expensive oil. His response to her was one of submission – to allow her to wash his feet, to prepare for his nearing burial . Jesus now says that his hour has come.

In my holy hour reading today, I read about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples (which Peter originally protested.) Here Jesus shows his disciples what he expects from them – the same self-less love and giving that he gives to us through his life and through his death.

I know you are speaking to me, Lord. As I go through this day, help continue to focus on these readings and I ask you to pour your wisdom and understanding into my heart. Thank you Lord for loving me so much that you find a way to speak so directly to me.

Jesus, my Lord and Master,

Lead me this day.

Speak to my heart and guide me.

Direct my feet to those whom you would have me love.

May my feet move forward untiringly in your service.

May my feet bring your good news to others

    so that you will declare my skinny, size 10 feet to be beautiful!

May my feet  always be striding

    or even running

    to others to share the love of Jesus,

    to share his good news.

And Lord, if I step on any toes along the way …

     due to pride,
     due to selfishness,
     due to uncaring,
     due to blindness…

Please forgive me,

wash these feet of mine,

and set me back on your path –

    the path of true love and the only way to true peace and joy.

Amen.

Hope Revived

Come, O lord,

and in my heart

oft times as dry as Jesse’s stump

and broken like that felled tree of David,

take root again.

In a springtime miracle,

blossom forth in me

with the green and bursting vigor of new life.

“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.”

Come, O Lord,

in the force and freshness of your Spirit

and blow over me.

Wake in me all that has grown weary

and rouse all that has been dulled by griefs and sorrow.

Refresh and quicken me;

let me find my breath in you

and draw new strength from your vitality.

From God’s Promised Fulfilled by Jeanne Kun

Thanksgiving for Reasons to Trust You Lord

Lord, Lord, Lord ….  sigh ….  

Once again

it feels like more things are piling on our plate than we can handle.

How easy it is to give in to worry, to fear,

to thinking those doomday thoughts.

But then I remember how good it is to turn to You

and know that You are there,

To know that You are walking right beside us, holding onto our hands,

To know that You will never leave our sides,

To know that this is what You want for us right now,

To know that You can bring good out of all of this.

I am trusting once again, and I am thanking You

for these trials which give me reason to trust!

You are my God and I am sooooo thankful!

Amen! Amen! Amen!