10/18/26

10/17/26

Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 10/18

I can't begin to count all the
   pardons,
   second chances,
   clean slates,
   fresh starts
   and new beginnings
you've offered me, Lord,
   in my lifetime,
   this year,
   last month,
   just yesterday
   - and since I woke up this morning!

There is no end to your
   mercy,
   to your patience,
   your indulgence,
   generosity
   and love...

Your mercy is never exhausted, Lord,
your compassion is never spent:
   your kindness is renewed each morning...*

Help me never take for granted, Lord,
the love and mercy you offer me
over and over again -
regardless of how and how often
I've failed you...

So, this day, Lord, open up
   my heart and soul,
   my eyes, my ears, my mind,
   my awareness and my imagination...

Open me wide
to all the ways you'll offer me today
   your pardon,
   a second chance,
   a clean slate,
   a fresh start
   and a new beginning...

And as you have freely given me
   the grace of starting over,
help me be free in offering all
   my patience and my pardon...

Amen.

*Lamentations 3:23

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Night Prayer: SATURDAY 10/17

I'm grateful for so many reasons, Lord,

for the blessings and gifts that come my way,

from your heart and hand to mine...

But I know there are times when,

feeling entitled,

I take your gifts for granted...

I don't always thank you for all you offer:

your constant presence,

your strength and support,

the help of your grace

and the peace I find

in my trust in you...

Looking back on this day, Lord,

I thank you now:

for the gifts you offered and I received

and the blessings I took for granted

and especially those I totally missed

for being too careless and busy...

I'm grateful for how you continue to bless me

and stay by my side as my friend and my guide

even when I'm so absorbed in myself

that I miss what you offer and grant me.

How great is your love, O Lord, my God!

How grateful am I for the gift of your mercy

- when I've been ungrateful to you...

Open my eyes, my heart and my soul

to all the blessings you send my way

especially those I so often miss,

so often the gifts I need the most...

Protect me, Lord, while I lie awake

and watch over me as I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

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All Good Gifts by Stephen Schwartz

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After another school shooting...

I'm grateful for these wise and sobering words from Christopher Duggan, a friend who, by profession, has a much deeper and more informed understanding of the Constitution than most of us who are reading this post:

It is an abomination that a few people think that America is condemned forever to accept mass shootings without being able to adopt sensible legislation to at least try to minimize the slaughter of children and other innocent people. Those who rely on the Second Amendment to come to this conclusion conveniently ignore the seven purposes that the Constitution was drafted and ratified. They are set forth right at the beginning and no amendment or statute contradicts the seven purposes of the American foundation (1) form a more perfect Union: (2) establish justice; (3) ensure domestic tranquility; (4) provide for the common defense: (5) promote the general welfare; (6) insure the blessings of liberty; (7) to ourselves AND our posterity (the kids who are being executed in a genocide). Sensible firearms legislation can be adopted that will further each one of these 7 objectives. The argument that we must accept mass slaughter of our children to put unlimited revenue in the hands of gun manufacturers undermines each and every one of these 7 goals. Until Heller in 2008, no one thought that sensible gun legislation was unconstitutional (the 2nd Amendment then was known as "the forgotten amendment") and there is no reason, none, that parents and grandparents should have to live without their children because of some false reading of the text, history and structure of our fundamental law.

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Autumn's truth...

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10/16/26

Pause for Prayer: SATURDAY 10/17

Lord, you know everything

that will happen in my life today...

Everything...

Lacking such knowledge...

I might worry and fret

over things that I don't know...

I may hide from things

I have no need to fear...

or spend my day second guessing

all I say and do...

So, give me the faith I need, Lord:

to accept this day as it may come,

no matter what it brings...

to live this day with trust

that you're always by my side...

to find in everything today

your blessing, strength and peace... ,

Lord, you know everything

that will happen in my life today...

Everything...

Help me find in everything today

the grace to hope in you...

Amen.

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NIGHT PRAYER: Friday 10/16

How is it possible, Lord,

that the eighth month,

the first of the year's last quarter,

- is now half gone?

I thought that when I grew older

time might pass at a slower pace

for want of the harried busyness

that once filled my days and some nights, too,

haunting my sleep and my dreams...

But no!

Time marches on and moves apace

with the planets, the sun, the moon,

the stars and the calendar's months

tracing my path and keeping account

of my life, my years and my days...

Now I have free time - and plenty, for sure!

But even my free time fills up, is consumed

by I-don't know-what

- or maybe I do...

My days are brimful with rest and time

for musing, reflecting and mulling over

all that has been, all that's been mine,

all that I've done - or didn't get 'round to

and all the love that swept me up,

held me close,

took me in,

guided my steps,

cared for my needs,

befriended my soul,

overlooked my faults,

forgave my misdeeds,

healed my hurt

and on thousands of days,

in thousands of ways

revealed and shared, and generously so,

your mercy,

your presence,

your peace...

Oh, some of my musings are not as sweet:

there've been times of hurt, loss and pain,

times of longing, need and want,

times all alone and lonely times,

times when hope was all but gone,

and times when I wondered where time had gone

and how much time was left for me...

And now, Lord - something like October -

I'm in my 80th year, at the beginning

of the last quarter of my life,

a life much more than half now spent...

And I'm pleased, now that I'm older, Lord,

to find that life moves on apace

with all that's real and passing,

with all that's true and lasting,

with all that is within your hands:

holy, broken, saved, redeemed,

wounded, healed and lifted up

by grace that knows no time...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen

In His Time by Diane Ball

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10/15/26

Pause for Prayer: FRIDAY 10/16

Photo by CC

I've had a few unusually busy days and rather to leave this space blank this morning, I'm offering tis poem by Mary Oliver - it's definitely a place to pause for prayer!

Song for Autumn

Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now
how comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of the air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees, especially those with
mossy hollows, are beginning to look for

the birds that will come—six, a dozen—to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
stiffens and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its long blue shadows. The wind wags
its many tails. And in the evening
the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.

- Mary Oliver

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NIGHT PRAYER: Thursday 10/15

It's a lesson I'm always learning, Lord

- again and again and again -

but I wish I could finally get it

and cone to understand

that when I tackle a task I've avoided,

when I make the change I've needed to make,

when I see to the work I've neglected,

when I speak the word I've been holding back,

when I deal with an issue I've tried to ignore,

when I face a problem I've long denied,

when I pick up and carry the burden that's mine,

when I open my eyes to what's plain as day,

when I get off my duff to make my move,

and finally do the next right thing

then

strength I thought I'd lost returns,

grace restores my faith in you,

a stillness calms my troubled soul,

the peace I've longed for calls my name,

the load I bear is less by half,

healing pays my heart a visit,

hope begins to softly whisper,

light appears to pierce my clouds,

and tomorrow comes, a welcome guest...

It's a lesson I'm always learning, Lord

- again and again and again -

but I wish I could finally get it

and come to understand

that my taking care of business

bares my soul for healing grace...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep rest in your peace...

Amen.

BTO's Taking Care of Business just didn't seem fit the bill here! Here's a tune I found that comes closer to the mark...

God Will Take Care of You by Aohad King

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