A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Prayer: 6/13

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

I've mentioned this before, Lord,
but it stays in my mind, in my imagination -
and it's such a simple thing:
it's the leaves on the trees...

A month and a half ago
I'd sit in my recliner
and look out my second floor window
and see the church steps and doors just across the green,
across the street...

But now my window frames a lush curtain of leafy branches,
swaying in a lazy breeze and that's all I see
save an occasional headlight
passing through Monument Square after dark...

And a small green forest has filled my backyard
while all along the streets of Concord
the bare limbs of April, scratching at the sky,
now brush against the puffy clouds of a day in June...

And here's the thing, Lord: for all this beauty
the trees did nothing but stand there -
soaking in the springtime downpours,
drawing up the moisture from the earth,
bathing in the sunlight
budding the branches and greening the leaves
to thicken the beauty that lines my street and fills my yard...

The trees did nothing but stand there, Lord,
and you did all the rest...

Would that once or twice or more each day
and every night
I might just stand there, Lord, or maybe sit,
soaking in the shower of your grace,
drawing up from my day's life
the moisture of your presence,
bathing in the light that's only found
in the forest of my quiet time for prayer...

The trees do nothing but stand there, Lord:
they let you do all the work
and then their beauty comes
and we rest beneath their shade...

Help me find the time each day and night
and find the place
where you and I can meet, Lord,
and I'll do nothing except stand, or sit,
and be in your presence, in the silence,
and bow to you and pray
you'll do what you do best...

I pray you'll give me grace to welcome
all the ways you help me grow
and grace to let your life within me
bud and flourish, filling my bare branches
with a wonder that is only yours to give...

Slow me down,
bring me to a standstill, Lord:
stop me in my tracks
and lift my face to yours:
let me meet you eye to eye
and heart to heart...

Help me just stand there, Lord.
Help me just sit, quietly, in your presence.
Do what you do best
and make of me the person
you created me to be...

Receive my Monday morning prayer, Lord,
and keep me faithful to it:
let me just be there,
every day this week...