2/28/24

Pause for Prayer: WEDNESDAY 2/28

 

The peace that only You can give...

That's the peace I'm always looking for, Lord 
    - although I often end up looking for it 
        in all the wrong places... 
 
In that sense, I guess peace is close to love:
    we often look for it in all the wrong places...
 
But the peace I seek, Lord,
the peace I desire,
the peace I long and hunger for
   is that peace that only comes from you...
 
Of course, there are people, things and relationships
    in which I do find peace 
        but if that peace is at all real, deep and lasting,
then I know that those persons, things, and relationships
    are your gifts to me,
        are expressions of your love for me,
    are somehow sacramental signs of you
        and of your Spirit moving in my life...

But there's also cheap peace, Lord, 
    on sale in stores and on line,
where the cost is not just dollars and cents
    but the price I pay in self-respect 
        or the loss of my integrity
    in settling for so much less than
        the genuine, pure and worthwhile,
        the beautiful, true and deep,
        the life-giving, natural and sound,
        that which helps me grow in faith and love
        and leads me on to share my finest gifts,
        all that draws me to you, always, ever closer 
        and brings me to find the peace I seek,
            the peace that only you can give...

Yours is the peace I always seek, Lord,
    but even more in this season of Lent:
        a time to seek the peace you offer,
        a time to make peace where I've been at fault,
        a time to speak peace when the cry is for war,
        a time to share peace as the most precious gift...
         
It's the springtime of Lent:
    a season of peace - for finding peace,
    a season of peace  - for making peace,
    a season of peace - of looking for joy,
        the joy that flows from Easter peace, 
            the peace, O Lord that only you can give...

In my Lenten prayer, help me find the peace
    of spending time alone with you,
    of finding myself in finding you,
    of finding in prayer the peace I seek,
        the peace, O Lord, for which I pray...
 
In my fasting in Lent, help me find the peace
    of giving up what I do not need, 
    of letting go what holds me fast,
    of doing without what keeps me, Lord,
        from knowing your full and healing peace...

In giving alms, help me find the peace
    of giving away what I want to keep,
    of sharing from want with those who have less,
    of wanting to give for the sake of giving 
        and finding in giving your peace, O Lord...

Be the peace I pray for these Lenten days:
    the peace I desire, hunger and thirst for,
    the peace I long for, deep in my soul,
    the peace the world needs but can't give itself,
    the peace that wisdom and truth provide,
    that peace that comes from only you,
        the peace O Lord, only you can give...
 
Amen. 
 
I found this song after writing the prayer above and on finding I thought, "Maybe I should just post the song!"  Well, I decided to post both - but for sure, don't miss the song...
 
 
 

  

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