A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: TUESDAY 10/3

(I wrote this prayer seven years ago and included it in my homily this past weekend.)

Lord, some things in my life need changing
and I wish these changes would happen over night
but change comes slowly to me -
perhaps because I come slowly to change...

Help me change, Lord.
Open me to the changes I want to make,
to the changes you want me to make in my life…

Change me from the inside out, Lord,
reboot my heart until it beats in rhythm with yours;
change my thinking

until my thoughts are in sync with your thoughts,

your word and your wisdom...

Stretch me, Lord, to be the person you call me to be;
stretch me until I’m satisfied with nothing less
than being the person you created me to be...

Open my eyes, Lord, to see your hands at work in my life
helping me to change, every day...

Open my ears to hear your voice guiding me
through the changes I need to make...

Open my mouth, Lord, to pray,

to ask for your help with the changes I most need to make...

Open my mind, Lord,

to know and understand what you ask of me

and how my thinking needs to change…

Open my hands, Lord, to work for the change

that will serve and rescue and lift up others…

Open me up to changes you see that I need to make

in areas of my life where I’m completely content

and not yet aware of changes you’d have me make…

Open my heart, Lord, to your Holy Spirit

shaping, shifting, changing me from within...

So many things in my life need changing, Lord:
heal and mend, and reform and repair

whatever’s wounded and torn, bent and broken…

Change me, Lord: open and empty and humble my heart
for the sake of all whose paths cross mine:
help me serve those in need,

cheer those in sorrow,
comfort those who grieve,

stand with those who are alone,

and rejoice with those whose hearts are glad…

You emptied yourself, Lord, you humbled yourself on the Cross,
becoming obedient even to the point of death.

We come now to your table, Lord,
where your Spirit changes our gifts of bread and wine,
and makes of them your Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

With the food of this sacrament, change us, too, Lord,
and make of us the people you call us to be.

Amen.