Yearly Archives: 2018
Room
Your words…
Then Mary gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough – because there was no room for them at the lodging place. Luke 2:7
My words…
A Christmas Prayer
Two grammatical clauses. The first prosaically describes Your arrival – the unblemished lamb, the mighty lion, the only begotten, – freely departing the dazzling radiance of heaven and the precious union with Your Father to wear human skin to cover the veins that held the necessary ounces of blood needed to save me. Boundless joy!
But the second clause takes my joy and drapes it with sadness. There was no room for You. No room! The earth is a rather spacious planet, but You, Father, chose to send Jesus to a place and time where He would not fit. Of course You did! How can the Creator fit within His created? Just as You did not fit inside a crowded Bethlehem lodge, so Your message of unconditional love, equality, justice, and salvation did not fit the preconceived ideas of the stubborn tribal nation to which You were born. There just wasn’t enough room for that too-good-to-be-true message.
I ponder Your unfathomable traits: You were not created (You have always been). You are all in all, the beginning and end. But there is one place I know where You fit perfectly. Yep. My heart. I’ve made room for You there.
Learn
Your words…
Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will learn more. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:9-10
My words…
Praise
The most wonderful aspect of Your creation is that it is a reflection of You: Limitless. No one person can know everything about anything. Even if I studied every day of my life, I could never know everything about music, space, literature, plants, math, language, religion, the human body, or any number of subjects. There’s just too much to learn. But You desire that I keep learning every day until I am a citizen of heaven. I am called to be a life-long learner of the Holy One. And just as I could never learn every aspect of molecular biology, so I will never learn every aspect of You. But that’s okay because if I did, You wouldn’t be God.
Prayer for me
Learning is tiring. It requires time devoted to meditation and study. Learning is a disciple, and I’m not very disciplined. I pray for strength to say no to the couch and yes to Scripture.
Forgive me
Sometimes I feel like because I know the basics, I know enough. You created me. You sent Your Son to die for me. He rose. He will come back, and I will get to be with You for eternity. I’ve memorized lists and verses and read through lengthy genealogies and confusing ancient customs. Forgive me for not dedicating myself to explore the whole gift. With all there is to learn, I’ve only just removed the wrapping.
More praise
I praise You as the Teacher who offers me a life-time supply of surprises, perceptions, epiphanies, amazements, and wonderment. And I praise You as the Author of the textbook.
Know
Your words…
This is what the Lord says: The wise man must not boast in his wisdom; the strong man must not boast in his strength; the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth. But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows me – that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. This is the Lord’s declaration. Jeremiah 9:23-24
My words…
Praise
The finite cannot grasp the infinite. The created cannot fathom the creator. I cannot comprehend You. You dwell unseen but see everything. There is nothing You do not know and nothing You cannot do. I get weighed down with this truth. It’s too much to pass through my brittle mind. Then I read the simplicity of Your words through Jeremiah, and my mind softens. I learn that You don’t expect me to understand Your infiniteness. You just want me to know You through what delights You. All I need to know about You can be found in Your faithful love, Your justice, and Your righteousness. And although each of these facets of You is unsearchable, You narrowed it down to three (for me). So, if You don’t mind, I will focus on those three for the rest of my life.
Prayer for me
I have never known a celebrity. But if I did, I would boast to all of my friends because knowing someone famous would make me look important. And then I ponder: I know You, and You not only measure Your love using compass points, You created the compass points. Why am I not boasting to everyone that I am the daughter of the King? Why am I not sharing with others the importance of knowing You? Why? Because I am weak. Because I am distracted. Because I am weary. Because. Because. Because. There should never be a because.
Forgive me
Forgive my weakness. Forgive my excuse-making for not boasting in my knowledge of You. My path to knowing You is not as worn as it should be.
Prayer for others
Father, I pray for those who refuse to know You. It’s as if they are eating sand while standing within reach of a table of bounty. Lead them out of the desert and to the feast.
Thank You
Thank You for inviting me to know You. It is the greatest privilege of my life. And the best part is that it will never end.
More praise
I know You, Lord, through Your faithful love to me. You knew me before I was born, and You loved me then. I know You, Lord, through Your justice. You promise comfort to the down-trodden, and You have declared that the unrepentant evil-doer will suffer Your wrath. I know You, Lord, through Your righteousness. Everything You do is right. Your words and deeds luminate the path for me to follow after You. Just this drop of knowledge of You is enough to meditate on for a lifetime. I look forward to the “someday” when I will be soaked with understanding.
Inside
Your words…
Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence! Blind Pharisee! First, clean the inside of the cup, so the outside of it may also become clean. You are like white-washed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:25-28
Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
My words…
A Prayer for My Insides
You care about my insides – my heart, soul, and mind – because that is the part of me that You see as me. It’s not that you don’t see my hair color, eye color, and the bone spur in my shoulder. I’m sure You do. But that is not the part of me that draws Your attention. You see the invisible me, the part of me that I can’t see. Truthfully, I’m not sure I would choose to see it if I could. You chose to use dirty dishes and tombs as the description of the insides of the Pharisees. What do You see in my insides?
When I opt not to do good because it doesn’t fit in with my time schedule, what does that look like from Your view? Like mold behind a wall? When I neglect to pray for someone who has asked me to do so, what do You see? A tree hollowed out by bugs? I don’t care enough about the lost of this world. That must look absolutely disgusting from Your perspective. My insides need a godly cleansing.
I ask Your invisible Spirit to purify my invisible insides. I am asking You to discipline me. Rid me of the rottenness that is creeping up the sides of my spirit. Exterminate the vermin that hide in the dark recesses of my heart. Scrub my mind clean of the critical judgments I impose on others. And, please Lord, give me the strength to bear up under it.
Waiting
Your words…
There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, he entered the temple complex. When the parents brought the child Jesus to perform for Him what was customary under the law, Simeon took Him up in his arms, praised God, and said: “Now, Master, You can dismiss Your slave in peace, as You promised. For my eyes have seen Your salvation. You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples — a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to Your people Israel. Luke 2: 25, 26-32
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:25
My words…
Praise
Lord, You could answer my prayers as soon as they leave my heart. You could give me wisdom as soon as I ask for it. Boom. I’m wise. You could heal me of any sickness in an instant. Yay! I’m well. You could mend a torn relationship in a moment. Hey! We’re good. But You do not work that way. You do not bless that way. From the beginning, You expected Your creation to wait – to wait for the coming Messiah, like Simeon. I tend to believe that the wait was lengthy before he finally held Your beloved Son in his arms. But I doubt that he complained along the way. The reward far outweighed the wait. You expect Your creation to wait for the day when Your Son will make Himself known again on earth. In the meantime, I wait through sickness and health, joy and sadness, success and failure. I know the reward will far outweigh the wait.
Prayer for me
I’m not good at waiting. You’ve heard me complain, “If I had a nickel for every minute I waited for (fill in the blank), I’d be rich!” Teach me how to turn my waiting time into growing time – growing in patience, wisdom, prayer, meditation. Instead of whining about how long I have been waiting for my food to be served, I could read Your Word. While waiting for the doctor, I could pray for the sick in the room. But it doesn’t come naturally for me to do that. I pray that I learn that waiting is an opportunity and not a waste of time.
Forgive me
Forgive me for wanting to move past the waiting and get to the answer right away. Only a fool would turn her back on a chance to grow more holy, more godly, which is what waiting on You brings.
Prayer for others
I set another prayer before You, a prayer for the same loved ones I pray for each day. You know them well. You see them now. I don’t know what You have in store for them, but I know You love them. And that is all I need to know. I trust You to answer my prayer in Your time, not mine.
Thank You
Thank You for answering innumerable prayers I have lifted to You. Some of them required little or no waiting!
More praise
The world is filled with reasons to wait. Parents wait on the birth of a child. Farmers watch for the time of harvest. Children count down to their birthday celebrations. Waiting is the road to fulfillment, which is exactly how You planned it.
Overwhelmed
Your words…
But I trust in You, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” The course of my life is in Your power; deliver me from the power of my enemies and from my persecutors. Show Your favor to Your servant; save me by your faithful love. Psalm 31:14-16
My words…
A prayer of the overwhelmed
Lord, I spend a fair amount of time reasoning through Your word as it applies to my twenty-first century life. When David pleads with You to deliver him from the power of his persecutors, he was referring to mean people with sharp weapons who were intent on killing him. I am not in danger from mean people with sharp weapons. My greatest persecutor is ME. David says, “The course of my life is in Your power.” I say, “The course of my life is in MY power.” I make all of the decisions, setting my own schedule, relying on my own strength. Then, when things don’t go according to plan, I drop my head in my hands, overwhelmed by unmet deadlines, deferred responsibilities, and uncooperative technology. At the end of the day, I am left feeling hollow, discontent, and restless. My spirit reels.
And then, Your Spirit calls the class to order and begins to teach. (A repeat lesson, I am sad to say.) In whom should I place my trust to direct my daily plans? In the One who will deliver me from my own habit of power-grabbing. In the One who will grant me a day of blessing and contentment. My deadlines may not get met, and technology may still fail me, but what You will for that day will be accomplished because, ultimately, the course of my life is in Your power. When I truly grasp that truth in my heart, I am no longer overwhelmed, and my spirit is grounded. What peace! I slide into bed at the end of the day and pray a four-word prayer: “You are my God.” And then I close my eyes and sleep.
Sparrows
Your words…
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops. Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:27-31
My words…
Praise
Father, You keep close watch over the sparrows, little birds with little value. You know the number of the feathers on their backs. You see when they fly, when they fall, when they die. Every single one of them. How much more did You keep watch over the apostles who were being sent out to share the love of Your son with others? They girded themselves with this thought and walked across the brink into the dangerous unknown. It’s amazing what people can accomplish when they know they are being closely watched by You.
Prayer for me
I don’t deserve to be considered more valuable than a sparrow. But because You see me as such, I should live as such. I am so incredibly important to You. You delight when I fly. You care when I fall. Forgive me when I don’t live up to the value You have placed on me. You know the number of hairs on my head, which to me means You know me better than I know myself.
Prayer for others
I hope the sparrows know how much You care for them. It is the greatest joy of my life to bask in the certainty of Your passion for me, and I am saddened for those who live each day outside of that joy. I pray they will search for it and find it.
Thank You
It is a humbling privilege to come before You and thank You for knowing me so well and loving and caring for me in spite of that knowledge. Thank You for Your protection, for Your lessons, for Your direction, for Your comfort.
More praise
I realize that Your care for me doesn’t mean I will never suffer. I have suffered while under Your care. And that is when I experienced Your benevolence the most. You have devoted Yourself to my well being. What god does that? You!