Monday Morning Offering: 12/30

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

It's almost New Year's, Lord

and time to think about, to pray over,
to make some resolutions...

No one knows better than you, Lord,
my track record on resolutions made in the past,

at New Year’s, on Ash Wednesdays

and all those other times

when I promised, pledged and 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 let me begin my offering,
by placing the new year ahead

entirely in your hands...

(And I make this offering

trusting that you plan on adding

another year to my life…)

I offer you my heart for the year ahead

and pray you'll soften my heart where it's stony,

smooth its rough edges

and heal its brokenness –

not so much for my sake –

but for those who will count on my heart,

who'll be touched by my heart in 2014...

Give me a heart for others
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve 
to love my neighbor as myself...

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 fuzzy, lazy thinking,

my confusion and lack of conviction...

Give me the gift and strength of wisdom
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to rely on your Spirit's guidance...

I ask you to hone my mind with your truth,

and expand my thinking where it narrows,

opening me to learn what I need to learn and know...

Give me the gift of truth
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to be faithful to it...

I offer you my body in this year ahead, Lord:

help me respect and care for the flesh and bone

that give my soul a form in this world:

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…

Give me the gift of healthy habits
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to be grateful for the body you've given me...

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...

Give me the gift of grace
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to trust in your presence...

I offer you my time in 2014, 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 strengthen me for what you would make of my life

in the next twelve months...

Give me the gift of a full life
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to be mindful of my experience...

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…

Give me the gift of a pure heart
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to live in your light...

In the new year, Lord,

I lift up to you all those you’ve entrusted 

to my heart and to my care:

all who look to me and lean 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…

Give me the gift of fidelity
in the new year, Lord...

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…

Give me the gift of a generous spirit
in the new year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to do for others as I'd have them do for me...

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 grace to carry them
and grace to accept the consolation you offer
as I bear with them...

I offer you the joys of the new year, Lord:

let me miss not 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 week;

show me the clues 
that resolve the mysteries that 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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