soil of the soul, thursday

Thursday, September 4

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.

        

Scripture Reading for the Day: John 12:20-28

Reading for Reflection:

            I find you there in all these things

            I care for like a brother.

            A seed, you nestle in the smallest of them,

            and in the huge ones spread yourself hugely.

 

            Such is the amazing play of powers:

            they give themselves so willingly,

            swelling in the roots, thinning as the trunks rise,

            and in the high leaves, resurrection.

            (Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

          

Closing Prayer: O God of life, in times and in seasons where I tend to be focused only on what is dead and dying, either within me or around me, help me to always know that, in your economy, death always leads to life.  Give me faith to believe that the season of unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies is always followed by the season of if it dies it produces many seeds.  Thank you for that truth.  Amen.