Prayer for Wednesday, September 8, 2010 · 9 September 2010

Hi God,

I’m feeling empty today.
That’s not so good
because I have a full agenda.
Perhaps that is the problem,
I have too long a list,
with no time just to be:
time I could spend lying on the deck,
investigating the myriad subtle shades of blue in the sky;
time I could spend walking the dogs,
watching them sniff hither and thither.
(are there fascinating myriad subtle shades of odor?)

So my prayer today,
is to ask You to help us to take time,
time just to be with You,
time just to be with Your creation.
Somehow, I think that might serve us better,
than worrying about getting things done,
things which aren’t exactly a matter of life and death.

Also, I ask you, please,
to have mercy on my soul,
distracted sinner though I be.

Amen

— lgpiper

Comment

Prayer for Tuesday, August 31, 2010 · 30 August 2010

Hi God,

It’s ironic, I think,
that I’ve been assigned to pray
on the day I have my
adjunct faculty orientation.

In the past year,
I’ve become rather cynical
about being an adjunct professor.
I’m just a warm body
needed to fill a slot.
A day laborer,
    useful today
    discardable tomorrow.
Certainly not someone
who might have insights
and skills to make
    other people’s
    other people’s children’s
lives better.
certainly not someone of value.

Why do we hate our children so,
that we are no longer willing
to provide quality education for them?

So my prayer today
is you bonk us on the head,
that you grab us by the neck and shake vigorously,
THAT YOU YELL LOUDLY,
that you do whatever is necessary
to cause us to pause…to think…
then to repent…
to turn from our self absorption
and to remember we are all
members of the body of christ.
Each . and . every . one . of . us.
If we cut off a hand, a foot, a brain,
the whole body suffers.
Each . and . every . other . part . of . Christ’s . body.

I also ask you please,
to have mercy on my soul,
self absorbed sinner that I also be.

Amen

— lgpiper

Comment [1]

Prayer for Thursday, August 5, 2010 · 5 August 2010

Hi God,

I hope you don’t mind
half-baked prayers,
ones made up
on the spur of the moment.
I was supposed to write it out last night…
but then my daughter called…
during which, the mouse showed up:
now known as, “the mouse that clanks in the night”.

So, I have oodles of time…sometimes…
to sit and contemplate you and Your creation.
But I don’t have pencil and paper at those times:
   the times I hear the loons on the “pond”;
   the times the sun makes the “pond” all sparkly;
   the times the setting sun renders the trees and hills golden;
   the times I just sit there and watch the dogs muck about in the water;
   the times I’m sitting there and my son is practicing guitar on the deck
   (now alas to be no more since he’s back working).
But even without pencil and paper,
I suspect You have heard my grateful murmurs.
If not, pretend this prayer is a substitute.
I do indeed thank You for all these small blessings.

I also pray that You will, please,
continue to have mercy on my soul,
undeserving sinner though I continue to be.

Amen

— lgpiper

Comment

Prayer for Thursday, July 29, 2010 · 30 July 2010

Hi God,

I suppose it must be rather a treat,
when you are 101 years old,
to have a child show up for a visit.
Still to be able to sit
outside on a lovely July day,
    and to watch the clouds gather and dissipate;
    to see the motor cycles and trucks
       rumbling up and down the road;
    to see bicyclists and the occasional jogger
       keeping their bodies in shape;
    to comment on the goings on,
    or just sit quietly and appreciate
       the activity,
       the sunshine
       and the breeze.
I wouldn’t know, of course,
I’ve never yet been 101.
I’m only guessing because,
as the son, I found it all to be
rather a treat for me.

Thank you for such blessings.

Amen

— lgpiper

Comment

Prayer for Tuesday, July 20, 2010 · 20 July 2010

Oops, God,

I almost forgot again!
Maybe we could rig up
some kind of alarm system.
In some ways,
that might be cool:
    little thunderbolts to jog our memories;
    bigger thunderbolts when we’re being dufuses;
    and huge thunderbolts when we’re being evil.
If life were only so simple, huh?
Presumably, You can’t zap evil folks,
‘cos otherwise You’d have to admit
that some of us are irredeemable.
Aren’t we all, in theory, redeemable?
I thought that was the point
of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross,
to redeem us all,
even the not-so-nice folks.
I sure hope so.

So my prayer today is,
if You don’t view
any of us to be irredeemable,
that You can help us think similarly.
I realize this has consequences.
For one thing, we’d have to give up
the comfort of capital punishment.
We would also have to rethink the wisdom
of sending drones over far off lands
to “eliminate bad guys”,
all the while, ignoring “unfortunate collateral damage”.
Help us learn to eschew such comforts.

Also, I ask you, please,
to have mercy on my soul,
sinner, albeit redeemable (I hope), though I be.

Amen

— lgpiper

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