A Concord Pastor Comments: Monday Morning Offering: 12/31

Coffee in the Morning by George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

Tonight is New Year's Eve
so it's time to think and pray about
making some resolutions...

Now, no one knows my track record on resolutions
better than you, Lord:
the ones I've made at New Year’s,
on Ash Wednesdays
and so many other times
when I've promised, pledged and resolved
to do this or that,
or to stop doing such and such...

And you know how that usually goes, Lord:
just a few days later...

So let me begin my morning offering today
by placing the New Year ahead
entirely in your hands
since in my hands, well -
my resolve quickly weakens and fades away...

So, I offer you my heart for the year ahead
and pray you'll soften what's grown coarse,
warm what's chilled and frostbit,
smooth its roughened edges
and mend its broken parts
-and not so much for my sake-
but more for those who count on me
to be there with and for them…

In the New Year, Lord,
give me a heart for others
and help me resolve
to love my neighbor as myself...

I offer you my mind and will
in this New Year
and pray you help me sort through
all my doubts and questions,
my fuzzy, lazy thinking,
my confusion and my foolishness…

Give me the gift and strength of wisdom
in the New Year, Lord,
and help me resolve to seek and rely
on your Holy Spirit's guidance...

Sharpen my mind with your truth,
and expand my thinking when it narrows:
open my mind to what I need to learn
and to all that I need to know...

And in 2019, Lord,
give me the gift of truth
and help me resolve
to be faithful to it...

I offer you my body
in this New Year just ahead, Lord:
help me respect and care
for the frame that gives my soul
a solid form and presence:
get me out of bed and off the couch:
move, shake, stretch, walk
and strengthen me
for all the work that’s mine to do…

And I offer you my spirit, Lord, my soul:
give me the courage and the strength I need
to walk each day with you, my hand in yours,
your arm around my shoulder,
guiding every step I take...

Give me the gift of your grace
in the New Year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to trust in your presence...

I offer you my time in 2019, Lord,
teach me not to waste this precious gift:
fill my days with energy
and with resolve to do your will;
fill my nights with deep and restful sleep
and strengthen me
for how you hope I’ll spend
the next 12 months…

I offer you my imagination in the New Year, Lord:
make my thoughts pure, my dreams sweet,
my intentions just, my ideas honest, my plans firm,
my goals good and my hopes ever faithful to your will…

Give me the gift of a pure heart
in the New Year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to live in your light...

In the New Year, Lord,
I lift up those you’ve entrusted
to my heart and to my care:
all who look to me and lean on me
for support and care and hope...

Give me the gift of a generous spirit
in the New Year, Lord,
and help me resolve
to do for others as I'd have them do for me...

I offer you, Lord, the challenges of the year ahead:
give me the wisdom and strength I'll need
to face, accept and work my way
through all that I encounter...

And I offer you the burdens and sorrows
the New Year will certainly bring:
give me grace to carry them
and to accept your help
to bear them with a hearty soul
and a peaceful spirit...

I offer you the joys of the New Year, Lord:
let me not miss a single one
but delight in each
and share them with my neighbors...

I offer you the New Year ahead, Lord,
and pray that I come to its end
through your grace, in your peace,
held in your strong arms…

Amen.