the soil of your soul, day 5

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: John 12:23-28

Reading for Reflection:

     When it comes to the practice of heart prayer, give up all concerns about success and failure.  What you are doing in these times is planting prayer within yourself so that it will be there through the rest of the day.  It is indeed very much like planting a seed in the ground.  You just put it there and let it take its natural course.  Don’t keep digging it up to see how it is growing.  Don’t try to manipulate or control it; just notice it, appreciate it.  Entrust its care to God. (The Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May)

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)