balance, day 4

Come to Stillness:

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

Opening Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

     During this day help me quiet all the thoughts that fill my head—where I must go, whom I must see, and what I must do. In their place, give me a sense of your order, your peace, and your time.

     Help me to understand that you are in control, and I can trust you with my day. Help me to realize that nothing on my to-do list is important if it is not what you want me to do.

      I give all my tasks to you and trust you to bring order to them. In these moments, dear Jesus, come to me, be with me, and free me from the tyranny of “to do.” (Quiet Spaces by Patricia F. Wilson)

 

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 127

Scripture for the Day: Matthew 6:25-34

Reading for Reflection:

One reason we have difficulty praying is that we are unable to quiet down enough to become sensitive to the movements of the Spirit.  This usually happens because we have been living our lives at too fast a pace.  Rushing from one activity to the next, we lose touch with the Spirit.  We are not moving against the Spirit in a sinful way, but we are not allowing the Spirit to infuse our activities, enabling us to perform them in peace and joy.  Finding ourselves anxious and worried both about the result of our work and about getting it all finished within the allotted time, we come to prayer restless and find it almost impossible to quiet our minds in a way that allows us to be sensitive to the movements of the Spirit.  Since we cannot allow the Spirit to bring us to the Lord, we begin composing our own monologue to the Lord, expressing our own needs and concerns, often in a rushed and rather compulsive way.  It often seems that we could be using our time more effectively by skipping prayer and finishing the work we left undone.  Prayer will remain difficult until we develop a rhythm of life that enables us to work in tune with the Spirit, thus experiencing the peace and joy that flows from the Spirit’s presence.  If we are living in tune with the Spirit during the day, it is easy to allow the Spirit to unite us to the Lord during prayer. (In His Spirit by Richard J. Hauser)

 

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Be the Center

Jesus, be the center,
Be my source, be my light, Jesus
Jesus, be the center,
Be my hope, be my song, Jesus

Be the fire in my heart, be the wind in these sails
Be the reason that I live, Jesus, Jesus

Jesus, be my vision,
Be my path, be my guide, Jesus.

Be the fire in my heart, be the wind in these sails

Be the reason that I live, Jesus, Jesus


Closing Prayer
You have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence we shall be strengthened. By Your Spirit lift us to Your Presence where we may be still and know that You are God. (from The Book of Common Prayer adapted in Living Prayer by Robert Benson)