8/7/17

Monday Morning Offering: 8/7


Morning Coffee by George Mendoza


Lord,
I try really hard to do the right thing
and say the right word
but despite my best efforts,
my words and deeds can often miss their mark
and, worse, end up hurting
just where I tried and hoped to heal...

Sometimes my efforts at honesty
become a hard lesson in humility
and while I'm grateful for what I've learned
I grieve the cost to those at whose expense
my newfound wisdom comes...

Sometimes, Lord, my best intentions
fall apart in my own hands
and, try as I might, it's hard to see
how and when and why something went wrong
- but it did and I need to own it…

So this morning, Lord,
I offer you my failed deeds and garbled words
and any harm they've done to those entrusted to my care.
I pray you’ll speak your healing word
upon whatever unintended hurt I've caused...

And I offer you all I've learned the hard way, Lord:
the way that's paved with others' hopes,
the path that bears the prints of my rough steps.
I ask forgiveness of any whose hearts
I've trespassed without care...

I offer you all my good intentions, Lord:
help me see them as they are:
to discern the selfish from the selfless
and to act upon whatever wisdom I might gain...

I offer you all the mistakes I've made, Lord:
the ones I didn't see coming,
the ones I should have seen coming,
and the ones I saw only when it was all too late:
I pray that you’ll forgive me
and heal the hearts of any I have hurt…

I offer you the foolish pride that tempts me
to think, and too often to believe,
that I’m always right and never wrong…

Help me know myself as you know me, Lord:
help me see what’s good and true
and to take honest stock
of what should have no place within my heart…

Tame, heal, shape and mold my heart
for loving you, Lord,
and for serving all whose paths cross mine...

Good God of Monday mornings,
teach me what you would have me say and do:
take hold of my heart this day and night
and through the week before me…

Amen.




 

     
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