Image: George Mendoza
Good morning, good God!
It's Monday and its time for my "offering..."
Something strange about that, Lord:
I take time to offer you something
when all the while I know that everything I have,
all that I am, anything I might offer
was first your gift to me...
Even the desire to pray this morning
comes from a longing for you
which was first your gift to me...
Any gifts or talents of mine
came from your hand
before they were in mine:
all the work of my hands
depends on you
for its source and inspiration...
Even if I offer up my need for you,
my desire to be who I am in you
(all and nothing more than who I am in you)
even that hope, that prayer is your Spirit
stirring in my mind and heart
and prompting me to pray...
I'm like the child who asked his father for money
that he might go out and buy his dad a gift:
the father was pleased with his son's desire
and supplied the means
for the boy to purchase the present...
And the child was as was pleased to present it
as was the father to receive it...
So this morning, Lord,
I offer you my thanks and praise
for all you've given me...
Let no gift of yours to me
escape my attention and my gratitude...
Let no gift of yours to me
be cast aside for envy of gifts
you have given others...
Let no gift of yours to me
be wasted or go forgotten or unused...
Let me never think an end has come
to the gifts you have in store for me
but keep my heart and senses ever open
to what gift you might give next...
Let no gift of yours to me, however small,
seem too small to care for, enjoy and develop...
Give me a generous heart
to share my gifts with all whose paths cross mine
and open me to the gifts they bring
this day, this night, this week...
All I have to offer, Lord,
is what you have already offered me
and for all of that - I offer you my thanks and praise...
Amen.
-ConcordPastor
It is indeed an irony that all we have to give back is that which God has given us to begin with. Thanks for the reminder that we are supposed to USE these gifts for the glory of God and for the good of others.
ReplyDelete(You must get up very early to have this already online!)
As usual excellent prayer...ps I noticed that the Red Sox cufflinks have been removed. This am there are a lot of disappointed fans in Bean Town. I like the seasonal links !!
ReplyDeleteIn my work in ministry I sometimes kiddingly say that I know a pastoral encounter is successful if there are tears. Your MMO today was successful! They came as the words of your prayer gently eroded my resentment about my feelings of powerlessness in the outrageously dependent and imbalanced relationship we have with our good God. The tears came at the line "Let no gift of yours to me be cast aside for envy of gifts you have given to others..." These words pointed me back to yesterday's scriptures which help me to identify the part of me that is the man with many possessions. Since none of these possessions satisfy, I am often locked up in comparing what others have (been given), imagining that if I possessed their gifts I would have more control, power, or satisfaction. Your prayer encouraged me to return to that place where yearning begins, and lo and behold, God was there to meet me. What sweetness!
ReplyDeleteI can't help it though -- I am envious of your gifts!
What a touching prayer. It reminds me to be grateful in all circumstances for "all is gift" even the struggles.
ReplyDeleteLovely way to start the week. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMDR
As the song goes, "All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above. So thank the Lord." The more one thinks about it, that is the only response possible to our God who is love.
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