A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 5/11

Lord, you see everything I do
   and everything I fail to do
and yet you pardon and forgive me
   and still call me your own...

Trusting in your mercy, then,
   I dare, in prayer, to ask, Lord:
      "When today will I play the fool?"

When, today, will I turn from your wisdom
   and do what I deem to be wiser?

When, today, will I ignore your word
   to follow advice - that I give myself?

When, today, will I fail to heed

the counsel you offer

to guide my words and my deeds?

It takes but a moment:

I step from your path

and apart from your lead I lose my way...

It takes but an instant to tune you out

and hear nothing more than I want to hear...

It takes but a second to forget what what's right
and choose instead what pleases me,

what makes things go my way...

I dare then, in prayer, to ask you, Lord:
"When today will I play the fool?"

What a dunce am I to have in my heart

your counsel, your truth and

and your Spirit to guide me,

to have all this - yet play the fool -

and walk a path that leads to trouble;

to have in my mind the wisdom of ages

and yet make a choice

that becomes my pattern, then my path

- and finally, my regret...

So help me remember how wise you are
   - and how foolish I can be;
don't let me ignore your counsel today
   as I make decisions and choices...

Help me see my foolish ways, Lord
   help me hear my foolish words,
      keep me from acting in foolish ways;
give me clarity, insight and strength
   and the will to live by wisdom's light...

Refresh my memory, Lord,
   of all I've learned from your word
and all I know of your truth...

Refresh my memory, Lord,
   of what my mistakes have cost me
   and what my past has taught me...

Remind me, Lord,
   how my deepest peace has always come
from following where you lead,
   wherever your path may take me...