Monday Morning Offering - 173

Coffee in the Morning by George Mendoza


Good morning, good God!

New Year's Eve comes this week
and it's time to make some resolutions...

No one knows better than you, Lord,
how poorly I’ve done
in keeping resolutions I’ve made in the past
at New Year’s and on Ash Wednesdays
and all those other times
when I resolved to do this or that,
or to stop doing such and such
and then just a few days later…

You know how that usually goes, Lord,
so this morning I offer,
I want to place, the new year
all in your hands...

I offer you this new year, Lord,
trusting that you plan on adding
another year to my life…

I offer you my heart for this year ahead
and pray that you soften my heart where it's stony,
smooth its rough edges
and heal its brokenness --
for my sake and for those who will count on my heart
and its love in the new year...

I offer you my mind in this new year, Lord,
and pray that you help me sort through
my doubts, my questions and my confusion,
that you hone my mind with your truth,
that you expand my thinking where it narrows
and open me to learn what I need to know...

I offer you my body in this year ahead, Lord:
help me respect and care for the flesh and bone
that give form to my soul:
get me out of bed, off the couch and up from the chair
and move, shake, walk and strengthen
me and my mortal frame
for the work you give me to do…

I offer you my time in 2012, Lord:
teach me not to waste this precious gift:
fill my days with energy
and the will to live by your word
and work for your glory;
fill my nights with deep and restful sleep
and prepare me for what you would make of my life
in the next twelve months...

I offer you my imagination in the new year, Lord:
make my thoughts pure, my dreams sweet,
my intentions just, my ideas honest, my plans firm,
my goals sure and my hopes rooted in your promises…

In the new year, Lord,
I offer you those you’ve entrusted to my care:
any who look to me and lean on me
for support and care and hope:
make me faithful to those who depend on me
but not so strong, Lord,
that I fail to depend and lean on others
who offer me support and strength…

I offer you my bounty in the year ahead, Lord:
help me know the difference
between what I desire and what I truly need;
teach me to share what I have,
especially when I have more than I need;
teach me to see others’ needs before my own
and to care for them before I care for myself…

I offer you, Lord, the challenges of the year ahead:
give me the wisdom and strength I'll need
to confront and work through them...

And I offer you the burdens and sorrows
the new year will bring:
give me strength to carry them
and consolation to help me bear with them...

I offer you the joys of the new year, Lord:
let me not miss one of them,
let me delight in each of them
and let me share them with others...

I offer you the year ahead, Lord,
with its months as 12 new chapters
in the book of my life:
help me see the story of your love
in the days of each month;
show me the clues to resolve the mysteries
that confuse and baffle me;
let me see how these new chapters
follow from what has been
and lead to what is yet to come;
be the Author of these 12 chapters, Lord,
and let your words and your story
shape the person you created me to be…

I offer you the new year, Lord,
and pray that I will come to its end
in your peace
and in the embrace of your arms…

Amen.

(Click here for an archive of Monday Morning Offerings)
 

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