New Year's resolutions

Although my Morning Offering for Monday of this week was ready to go, I forgot, in the Christmas rush, to hit "publish" and get it up on the page here!

H/T to JD for pointing out its absence to me on Monday afternoon!

I thought it might be helpful to publish it again, closer to New Year's Day, for those who might be considering making resolutions.

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 my track record

for 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 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,

that you smooth its rough edges

and heal its brokenness –

not so much for my sake –

but for those who will count on my heart

and its love

in 2011...

I offer you my mind and my will in this new year, Lord,

and pray that you help me sort through

my doubts and my questions,

my confusion and lack of trust...

I ask 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…

And I offer you my spirit, Lord, my soul:

give me the courage and perseverance I need

to walk each day with you, my hand in yours,

your arm 'round my shoulder, guiding my way...

I offer you my time in 2011, 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 true, my hopes rooted in your promises…

In the new year, Lord,

I lift up to you those you’ve entrusted to my heart:

anyone who looks to me and leans on me

for support and care and hope...

Make me faithful to those who depend on me, Lord,

but not so strong

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 face 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 as I 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 that 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 the chapters of my life, 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.

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