A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 3/26

3/26/26

Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 3/26

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Back on Ash Wednesday, Lord,
I began with the hope and the prayer
that this Lent I'd come back to you
with all my heart...

With all my heart...

Well, maybe in some ways, Lord
- but I haven't yet returned to you
with all my heart...

There are still parts of my heart
   I shield and protect,
sometimes holding on
   to what I need to set free and let go:
       long held hurts and grudges;
       unhealed pain I cling to;
       anger now grown old and cold,
       chilling the warmth within me...

And still there are my heart's old habits:
faults I'd like to think are gone
but which with painful regularity
show their face when least expected,
when I'm least prepare

to meet and overcome them...

I've come back in some ways, Lord,
but I haven't yet returned to you
with all my heart...

So in these last days of Lent, Lord,
I invite you to come into my heart:
   come in and heal my heart,
   come in and cleanse my heart,
   come in and change my heart,
   come in and warm my heart,
   come make your home within me...

I pray for this because
   yours is the mercy I so much need,
   you make pure what deeply stains,
   you can change what I can't move,
   you melt the frost that chills my soul,
   you dwell in me with love I don't deserve...