Pause for Prayer: 9/11

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What an amazing grace, Lord,
   that I sit here with you who dwell in the heavens;
      that you should choose to sit here with me, as friends do;
         that I should speak to you who shape the hearts of all...

You made my heart, Lord,
   you knew its depths and chambers long before my birth...
In my mother's womb
   you began to shape the heart that would be mine
      'til its last beat and my last breath...

As clay in your sculpting hands
   you've never ceased to shape my heart,
      to mold it, always, to be more like yours...

You shape my heart to be filled with the peace
   you offer me every day...

You knead my heart to make it strong
   for work that's mine to do,
      for burdens I must carry...

You mend my heart and heal its wounds
   when sin and disappointment pierce...

You touch my heart with grace and
   bless my heart with all it needs
      to face the day ahead...

You shape the hearts of all, Lord,
   and mine no less than any:
you consider all my deeds, good and bad alike,
   and call my heart to faithfulness,
      compassion, truth and love...

How will you shape my heart today day, Lord?
How will your fingers mold my heart
   for today's peace, today's sorrow,
      for today's joys and this day's work?

What word will you speak to my heart this day, Lord?
What word does my heart need to hear?
A word of truth? of consolation?
   a word of challenge?  a word of mission?
      a word of healing?  a word of counsel?

Whatever word or words I need to hear this day, Lord,
   open my heart to the whisper of your voice
      in the quiet, in my mind, in the world around me,
         in my prayer and in my heart...

Above all, Lord, help me trust
   you shape my heart anew each day
      and speak a word for me to hear;
   that you're with me in this quiet time and place;
   that you are God and you are near...

I open and bare my heart to you, Lord,
   to shape it as you will, today...

Amen.


 

   
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