Praying 10 minutes today: FRIDAY 6/22

Find a quiet time and place to pray... take a few deep breaths...

be still... and know that God is near...

 A word to reflect on:   

Jesus told them:
Do not worry about tomorrow;
   tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
- Matthew 6

 



Even as I begin to reflect on your word, Lord,
   I know that I have worries about tomorrow, and next week, and...
      well, let's just say I worry about a lot of things, a lot of the time...

And though you tell me not to worry
  and not to be afraid,
worries and fears still often fill my mind, burden my heart
   and trouble my soul...

And you tell me not to worry,
   that tomorrow will take care of itself...

And I know you're right, Lord.
At least I know that worrying,
   or worrying more, or worrying harder
won't remove or resolve whatever it is about tomorrow
   that I'm afraid of...

There may well be things I need to do today
   to prepare for tomorrow and face it responsibly
but worrying now won't help me tomorrow:
  it will only distract me from today's reality...

Worry turns my mind and my focus
      away from today's problems, from the moment's needs
and then tomorrow finds me having to make up
   for the energy and time I worried away, the day before...

Saddest of all, worrying about tomorrow
   clouds my vision and closes my eyes to
      this day's blessings, this day's joys
and to all the ways you're with me
   in the hour at hand...

How often have I missed the grace, the strength,
   the peace of your presence at my side
      because my head and heart were lost in tomorrow?
How many blessings,
   how much peace of mind have I lost on one day,
      fretting and fearing, imagining the worst about the next?

I need your help - today, Lord!
I need deeper faith in you, trust in you
   and in your promise to be with me always...

Deepen my faith and help me let go my worries about tomorrow:
   let me drink in the peace you have for me today,
      the comfort you offer me today,
         the joy that will never come again
            the way it comes to me today...

This day's worries and fears
   will have nothing to offer when a new day arrives:
let your presence today be the strength I look back to,
   let your word today be the wisdom I rely on,
      when tomorrow comes 'round to knock on my door...

Help me keep it in today, Lord, because, truly,   
   this is the day you have made,
      the day you've given me,
   this is the only day I have,
the day when, in this quiet time of prayer,
   you are near, you are here, you are with me
      and in your company, in your peace,
          I have nothing to worry or fear about tomorrow...

Do not worry about tomorrow;
   tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.

Help me trust, Lord,
   that you know more about tomorrow than I:
that even as tomorrow is safe in your hands 
   so am I safe in those same hands today...

Help me keep it in today, Lord:
   be my strength for living this day,
      my wisdom for accepting this day,
         my peace for surviving this day
and my hope for trusting that tomorrow
   you'll be with me as surely as you're with me - today...

To ponder and pray over...

What worries and fears do I need to let go of to "keep it in today?"

Will I trust in, look for and accept the gifts God has for me today -

   and receive and enjoy them?

What will I ask of the Lord today?
From this prayer time, what word or phrase will I keep with me
   to carry through the rest of my day?

(After you spend some time with these questions,

   pray the reflection above one more time...)

Here are some tips for praying 10 minutes a day.  If you find these daily prayer reminders helpful, please let me know - and share them with others.  You'll find an archive of these daily posts here.

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