Help me to know what I could and should do - and to try my best to do it;
and to know what I couldn't and shouldn't do - and to try my best not to do it.
Friday, 28 July 2017
Monday, 24 July 2017
A psalm for today
Oh God, you are my all and my everything.
You are the bedrock of my existence.
Your commandments of love are the code of my life.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
In grief and sorrow, you are my comfort and consolation.
In happiness and health, you are my joy and delight.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You give me blue sky and white clouds,
the sun to warm me, the gentle breeze to cool,
the rain to water my garden.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You give me the green of trees, the music of rivers,
the curve of hills, the majesty of mountains,
the glory of sunsets.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You have been with me since childhood,
you have rescued me from danger.
Oh God, you my all and my everything
You have given me the gift of tears and laughter,
the joy of living and loving.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You have given me awareness of the needs of the world
and the desire to care about and for all creation.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You have given me the desire and the will to show gratitude.
For all these gifts, I thank you, dear God.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything.
You are the bedrock of my existence.
Your commandments of love are the code of my life.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
In grief and sorrow, you are my comfort and consolation.
In happiness and health, you are my joy and delight.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You give me blue sky and white clouds,
the sun to warm me, the gentle breeze to cool,
the rain to water my garden.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You give me the green of trees, the music of rivers,
the curve of hills, the majesty of mountains,
the glory of sunsets.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You have been with me since childhood,
you have rescued me from danger.
Oh God, you my all and my everything
You have given me the gift of tears and laughter,
the joy of living and loving.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You have given me awareness of the needs of the world
and the desire to care about and for all creation.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything
You have given me the desire and the will to show gratitude.
For all these gifts, I thank you, dear God.
Oh God, you are my all and my everything.
Sunday, 25 June 2017
About being fed up with the everyday mistakes of life
Here I am, Lord, stuck in the messiness of my everyday life and in my (mostly minor, but disappointing) failings and failures; downhearted again. It seems, and almost certainly is, way too self-obsessive, but nevertheless, it is there.
Help me, Lord; lift me out of the doldrums. Help me to see things in the wider perspective and also to see that the needs of others and the little things I can actually do to help, are far more important than the mistakes I make and the 'fed-up-ness' I feel!
Amen
PS Oh, how much I need you to help me keep my mind on an even keel and my 'show' on the road! Thank you for always being there, for listening and helping.
Help me, Lord; lift me out of the doldrums. Help me to see things in the wider perspective and also to see that the needs of others and the little things I can actually do to help, are far more important than the mistakes I make and the 'fed-up-ness' I feel!
Amen
PS Oh, how much I need you to help me keep my mind on an even keel and my 'show' on the road! Thank you for always being there, for listening and helping.
Two quick prayers for the day
Dear God,
Please help me to be and do the best I can.
Be with me today every step of the way.
Thank you, Amen.
Please help me to be and do the best I can.
Be with me today every step of the way.
Thank you, Amen.
Monday, 19 June 2017
About knowing and finding what we are looking for
There is only one place where we will find everything we are looking for
and that is in the arms of Jesus.
He is the Man for All Seasons and for all people,
for all the times and tides of our lives.
Young and old, fit and strong, weak and weary - come to him.
He is waiting with outstretched arms. If we run and fall into them, we will be eternally comforted and consoled, held and strengthened to take whatever life may send our way. Why would anyone hold back?
We need look no further.
and that is in the arms of Jesus.
He is the Man for All Seasons and for all people,
for all the times and tides of our lives.
Young and old, fit and strong, weak and weary - come to him.
He is waiting with outstretched arms. If we run and fall into them, we will be eternally comforted and consoled, held and strengthened to take whatever life may send our way. Why would anyone hold back?
We need look no further.
About service and worry
Two thoughts came to me recently.
In service, lies happiness.
Turn a worry into a prayer.
In service, lies happiness.
Turn a worry into a prayer.
Sunday, 18 June 2017
Farewell to Julian of Norwich
I had decided to end my extracts from this marvellous treasury of images of our loving God and leave others to explore its delights if they so chose. There was just one more phrase that had stayed with me which I wanted to share and, rather than have to skip through all the chapters to find it, I decided to use google.
I wrote, "I it am", and, lo and behold, someone had been there before me; and how!! Google was full of beautiful extracts, in the same entrancing language. Just three words can lead you into this wonderful world of the love of God.
I now know that the images of "I it am" are from chapter 26 and there they are in Wikiquote for all to delve within and relish and fall under their spell.
I first heard of Julian in my mid-thirties and her visions resonated immediately in my heart. When I found that she was born more or less 600 years before me and that she wrote of the infinite love of God, the utter conviction of which has sustained me throughout my life, I felt an immediate bond with her.
This is the God in whom I believe with all my heart and mind. This is the God of loving truth and truthful love, the only God worth giving one's life for and to. I cannot imagine that a more beautiful picture of the 'homely loving' of Our 'Courteous Lord' could be found anywhere in the written word.
I wrote, "I it am", and, lo and behold, someone had been there before me; and how!! Google was full of beautiful extracts, in the same entrancing language. Just three words can lead you into this wonderful world of the love of God.
I now know that the images of "I it am" are from chapter 26 and there they are in Wikiquote for all to delve within and relish and fall under their spell.
I first heard of Julian in my mid-thirties and her visions resonated immediately in my heart. When I found that she was born more or less 600 years before me and that she wrote of the infinite love of God, the utter conviction of which has sustained me throughout my life, I felt an immediate bond with her.
This is the God in whom I believe with all my heart and mind. This is the God of loving truth and truthful love, the only God worth giving one's life for and to. I cannot imagine that a more beautiful picture of the 'homely loving' of Our 'Courteous Lord' could be found anywhere in the written word.
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