Be gentle with me,
Most Jealous God,
for I confess to
adoring security,
serving the clock,
& placing confidence
in my own reputation
rather than in yours.
By your covetous love,
monopolize my heart
once again.
Be gentle with me,
Most Jealous God,
for I confess to
adoring security,
serving the clock,
& placing confidence
in my own reputation
rather than in yours.
By your covetous love,
monopolize my heart
once again.
How is is that my feeble humanity
at times
draws me away from
You my LORD
and sets me on a course of sure destruction?
I find it hauntingly easy
to stray from Your wisdom
in favor of what I think–
to read the latest words in a book
rather than Your Word
of timeless truths–
I am ashamed of my haughty
thoughts, words, actions
when time spent with You
would
reveal deeper, grace-filled expressions
Forgive my wandering ways
Spirit
call my heart to the narrow path
where my boasting
is in my LORD
I especially love your phrase “hauntingly easy”….quietly powerful.
For pride in knowledge and failing to trust the wisdom of story:
Lord, have mercy.
For reaching for a personal best, rather than a collective creation:
Christ, have mercy.
For keeping life comfortable and failing to count the cost of choices:
Lord, have mercy.
With your steadfast love and imagination, creative God, weave new threads of possibility, humility and risk into your fragile creatures. Amen
This prayer would be wonderful as a liturgy in worship, Hilary, with its ability to articulate both personal and collective confession. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the diversity of prompts, inspirations, and for words of encouragement, Rachel.
Lordy, Lordy as Nana used to say.
The things that have made me strong, those bumps in life,
They also make me seek earthly security to ride them out.
I can do it!
Those challenges that I’ve surmounted by my wits,
They continually urge me to learn more and keep my mind tuned.
I can do it!
Then I think of when it appeared that all was lost
In spite of my brains and careful planning,
And there You are to walk and comfort me
I can’t do it.
You then show me a different path—a better way.
Your ways are higher than mine and so I turn to you, Lordy, Lordy.
Ah, yes: the revelation of a new way that comes when finally we say, “I can’t do it”!