the soil of your soul, day 6

Come to Stillness:
Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer

Father,

     Allow the soil of my soul to be a place that is fertile and receptive to all that you desire to plant in my heart. Tend it carefully and nurture all that has sprung up in me that is of you; that I may be a garden of your delight. Through Jesus. Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 65

Scripture for the Day: Isaiah 5:1-7

Reading for Reflection:

     Spiritual disciplines are like garden tools.  The best spade and hoe in the world cannot guarantee a good crop.  They can only make it more likely the growth will be unobstructed.  The mystery of maturation lies in the heart of the seed, the outcome of planting depends largely on the vagaries of weather.  Still, tools are important in helping to ensure that planted seeds will bear fruit.  Tools can remove stones and roots, aerate the soil, weed and water the garden.

     Disciplines like prayer, scriptural reflection, and hospitality have the character of garden tools.  They keep the soil of our love clear of obstruction.  They keep us open to the mysterious work of grace in our heart and our world.  They enable us not only to receive but to respond to God’s love, which in turn yields the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. (Soul Feast by Marjorie J. Thompson)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: You Have Redeemed My Soul

You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness

You have redeemed my soul from death (Repeat)

I was a hungry child, a dried up river.

I was a burned out forest

And no one could do anything for me

But you put food in my body, water in my dry bed
And to my blackened branches
You brought springtime green and a new life
And nothing is impossible for you

Closing Prayer:

Grow your good grace in me O God. Make me receptive to the ways that you water and tend this garden of my heart. Prune me where I need pruning, nurture me where I need nurturing, weed me where I need weeding, and care for me tenderly where I need your tender care. I love you, O Gardner of my soul. In the tenderness of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)