balance, day 5

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: Isaiah 55:1-13

Reading for Reflection:

 

I had come to wonder sometimes at the lack of depth in my prayer.  I began to worry, too, at the sense of imbalance in my life and at the lack of centeredness as well.  I began to wonder if those things had a connection to my prayer.  I began to realize that the longing that I had, and have, for the presence of God could no longer be filled by a few stolen moments of extemporaneous prayer.  I began to have a sneaking suspicion that prayer was a larger and deeper and richer and more astonishing thing than I had known before.  I began to desire a way of life that was more like the lively and reasonable sacrifice that is called for by the words of the Eucharist.

     Although my life had been spent largely in the church and around people of faith, I had had a growing sense that I could go no deeper in my journey without some manner of instruction and experience in some ways of prayer other than the one I already knew.  “We fool ourselves if we think that such a sacramental way of living is automatic,” wrote Richard Foster once, in a book about prayer and discipline.  “This kind of living communion does not just fall on our heads.  We must desire it and seek it out.  We must order our lives in particular ways.” (A Good Life by Robert Benson)

 

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)