Praying in between the seasons

Image: Walden Pond in the Snow by Binarydreams

The Concord Journal, our local weekly, invites leaders of the faith communities in town to rotate authorship of a column titled, Voices of Faith.  It's my turn this week and I've quilted together some pieces old and new for this mid-winter invitation to prayer.  It may be warm and sunny where you are but in these parts last night's storm has provided the perfect context for these words, for folks who are snowed in - again!

Praying in between the seasons

Beginning in November there’s a good deal of forward, sometimes frenzied movement that energizes and drives us through the holy days and holidays we celebrate in our respective traditions. All that takes its toll on us and may be the reason this season after the turn of the year finds us sluggish and slack even when the sun peeks a smile through the gray haze of winter’s skies.

How about you? Do these long weeks weigh on your spirit? Does the weather chill your will as well as your limbs? Do winter’s short days shadow your heart’s desires?

Will you pray with me?

God of gray days lighten and lift my heart… keep and hold me close by your side… let nothing part me from your presence… With the fire of your Spirit, warm and still the shivers of my soul... With the light that hides behind the clouds, clear my mind and brighten my spirit… Lift me from my weariness and set my steps again along the path of your love… Open my eyes to the beauty around me, even in the drifts and piles of snow stalling my travels… As I walk through these winter weeks keep me mindful of others making their own way through this season of grays: help me know their hearts' burdens and nudge me to give, graciously, any help I might offer…

In between the anticipation of “the holidays” and the longed-for first kiss of spring comes this season we find so hard to weather. This is so, perhaps, because throughout our lives so many “in between” times visit and unsettle us.

So much of life is in between: in between yesterday and tomorrow… in between the old and the new… in between expectation and fulfillment… in between planting and harvest… in between disappointment and hope… in between sadness and joy… in between tears and laughter… in between what’s been left undone and what’s yet to be discovered… in between what we can’t let go and what we scarcely dare to dream…

Will you pray with me?

I offer you this moment, Lord, this “in between” time of the year, the only real time I have to offer… Help me “keep it in today” and give me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference… Give me patience with the past, Lord and hope for the future… Help me trust that you have never abandoned me, that you will never forget me, that you are always with me as you at this moment between all that has been and all that is yet be… I offer you this one day between yesterday and tomorrow… Today you come to meet me, challenge me, forgive me, comfort and strengthen me… Help me rejoice and be glad in this day whatever it may bring… This is the day you have made, Lord, and this day will never come again - help me live it to the full…

As inches become feet of snow and dropping temperatures nip the soul from nose to toes, let’s be mindful of one another living in this season between the time of winter’s chill and spring’s first blush.

Will you pray with me, in between these seasons?

 
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