A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 3/10

Every Sunday, my parish prays:
For a spirit of generosity in the hearts of us
who have more than we need...

O Lord,
I have so much more than I need!

I have too much stuff,
I have too many things,
I have things I've forgotten I have!

I have too many clothes:
clothes that fit and clothes that don't...
and clothes I won't wear again...

And I have too much money.
No, I'm not a millionaire
but I have more money
than more than half of the people
on the face of the earth.
And when I see what others need,
I see I have more than I need...

There's the hard question:
how much of anything do I really need?
When I think about that, Lord, when I'm honest,
I know I have more than I need...

I'm not going to offer you all my stuff, Lord:
you don't need it or want it.
But I need to do some housecleaning
and offer at least some of my excess
to those who do need it
and who can use it...

And that includes my wallet, too...

What I do ask you to take from me, Lord,
is my desire for having more:
my desire for having more than I need;
my desire for collecting things
for the sake of collecting them;
my desire to have more for more's sake;
my desire to have more than others have;
my desire to buy, to have and to own
the fastest, the newest, the sleekest whatever!

Take from me my desire to have
full shelves, full closets, full boxes
of whatever I want more of...

Take away my tendency
to stuff the empty places in my heart
with junk and filler,
with so much less than my heart deserves,
than it was made to store...

This Lent, Lord,
help me simplify my life:
help me give up, give away,
clean out, cast off,
go without, do without
the many things I do not need...

Help me empty my heart
of things that cannot offer
what my heart was meant to hold...

And make me generous, Lord,
in sharing with others whatever I have
for which they have a greater need...

For a spirit of generosity in my life,
a life in which I have more than I need,
I pray to the Lord...