I
read this article in the New York Times back in 2012 and posted on it
then and a couple times since. Here it is again, in my latest version - because I think it's a great image for us to ponder and pray over at the beginning of Lent...
Living plants have been generated from the fruit of a small flower, the narrow-leafed campion, that died 32,000 years ago. The fruit was stored by an
arctic ground squirrel in its burrow on the tundra of northeastern
Siberia and lay permanently frozen until excavated by scientists a few
years ago. (New York Times 2/21/12)
If scientists were able to bring to bloom a plant that died some 30,000 years before the birth of Christ - Imagine... what God might do with you and with me - this Lent?
Lord, what will you thaw in my life this Lent,
and bring to flower again?
Will you heal and mend my brokenness
in these 40 days of Lent?
Will you help me at last to reconcile
with family and friends I'm at odds with?
Will you give me the strength
to break that habit
I've so often tried to conquer?
Will you lift me up and out of my sadness
and give me the joy I long for?
Will you give me the grace to forgive myself
and move forward with new found strength?
Will you give me courage to face my fears
and to lean on the pledge of your presence?
Will you deepen my faith in your mercy, Lord,
and forgive every one of my sins?
Will you help me to love
the folks I don't like?
Will you stand as a guard
at the door of my lips?
Will you give me wisdom
to make good choices?
Will you move me beyond
my self-imposed limits?
Will you open my heart
to pray for my foes?
Will you fill my soul
with your Spirit's gifts?
Will you bless me in ways
I've not yet imagined?
You might, Lord, you can,
you could and you will
do all that I need and pray for
to find and be at peace with you,
with others - and with myself...
So I pray for the grace
to welcome you, Lord,
and to open myself to your plan and desire:
to thaw and smooth
my heart's cold edges,
to bring back to life
what I thought was lost,
to mend and heal
my broken parts,
to lead me, Lord,
where I've feared to go,
to give me the courage
to speak and to act,
to become the person
you made me to be,
to lift me up
to new spirit and life,
to turn me around
to new hope and direction,
to flower and bloom
once again, yes, again...
Nothing's beyond your power, Lord,
so I pray for the help
to bend to your hand
as you draw from me
a life I'd lost hope in
gifts I've not opened,
and strength beyond
any I'd hoped for,
wisdom to see
and to know what's right
and the grace I need to come to peace
with my neighbor, with you and myself...
Like that ancient seed,
frozen long ago,
find me and bring to life, O Lord
what's waiting to bloom in my soul...
Amen.
And here's a scripture to help with today's prayer...
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil. (Matthew 6:25-34)
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