Monday Morning Offering - 3

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

How can it be Monday again, so soon?
Does time fly by as quickly for you, Lord,
as it does for me?
As I open my eyes from sleep
I see another week stretching before me.
What do you see, Lord?

This might be a Monday morning when
(A) a new week is the last thing I want to face,
or (B) a new week is just what I want...

(A) Oh, God! not another week!
I've piled up enough hurt and uncertainty,
enough difficulty and confusion
to last me a life time!

Please let this week be a lighter one for me...
Please help me let go some of what I carry...
Help me drop it into your hands, your lap...

Lighten the load I carry, Lord,
and help me find in the week ahead
some time in the warm sun,
moments of peace and prayer with you,
good work, well done,
openness to the love around me,
and new hope that indeed you walk by my side
and carry me when the going gets too tough...

(B) A new week: praise God!
I look forward, Lord,
to the opportunities this week offers:
opportunities for what I don't yet know -
but will soon enough find out...

Who knows what this week will bring, Lord?
Well, actually, you know!
And because you do know,
please make sure I miss none of the gifts of grace
you will spread on the path before me...

And because you already know the week ahead,
give me a keen eye for missteps and mistakes
I might make along the way...

~ ~ ~

Perhaps the first grace of this week, Lord,
is noticing that both these morning offerings, A and B,
are my morning offerings:
perhaps for different weeks or different days,
or perhaps both of them, for every day of every week...

Just this moment to begin the week with you, Lord,
is a grace and a gift...

Whatever this week may bring, Lord,
keep me on the path of truth,
the way of justice,
the highway of peace...

When I'm tempted to wonder if you're still by my side,
when I reach out but can't find your hand right away,
remind me of this moment,
of its peace and promise...

It's a seven day week before me, Lord,
but help me take it a day at a time,
or an hour or a minute at a time,
as I need...

Wake me each day this week
with an offering of the day ahead
into your heart and hands...

-ConcordPastor