Daily Meditations
Holding a grudge is a stone in your heart TV show The Good Doctor
It is so easy to hold on to grudges against people who have wronged us. Sometmes the grudge makes us want to strike back and get revenge. God has called us to a different choice. Through Christ he has made it clear that we are to turn the other cheek. We are not to seek retribution. Judgement is left up to God.
Forgiving God, help us to let go of the stone in our hearts. Help us to give back kindness instead of revenge. AMEN
Make me a channel of your peace. Prayer of St Francis
Peace is so difficult to achieve. I don’t like conflict and have always been the family peacemaker. That doesn’t mean I succeed. Trying to make peace is a real challenge. God calls us to this task. We may not be able to bring about world peace but we can strive for peace wherever we are. Who knows. Things may change.
Lord God, help us to be the peacemakers no matter how difficult it is. AMEN
Infinite, intimate God; this night you kneel before your friends and wash our feet. Bound together in your love, trembling, we drink your cup and watch. From the New Zealand Prayer Book: Maundy Thursday prayer.
This is one of my favorite prayers for several reasons. I want to talk about one. I don’t think before this I ever heard God called infinite and intimate. What a wonderful image. This is what many people would call an oxymoron (two things that don’t fit together). God is both with us in every moment and so infinite we cannot grasp it. How can this be? Yet He is God!
Infinite, intimate God, help us to see that you are all things and with you anything is possible. AMEN
“I struggle…..I want to feel closer to God…..maybe that feeling….that yearning is all there is, maybe that is enough.” From the TV show Madam Secretary.
We all yearn for closeness with God. We want to feel His presence. We wish we could feel Him holding us….and yet it is rare if ever we actually feel that way. Sometimes we have that mountaintop experience but even the disciples had to come down. Life intrudes. The thing is whether will feel it or not God is always there….always holding us. So we need to turn loose of wanting a certain feeling and just choose to know He is there. We will still yearn for Him and maybe that is enough.
Loving God, sometimes we want to feel your presence…want some assurances….want writing on the wall. Forgive us for our feelings and teach us to accept your presence whether we feel it or not. AMEN
There is so much judgment going on today. People are judged for their skin color, their religion, their money or lack thereof. That is only the beginning of the list. We could go on with transgender, homosexual, adulterer and on and on.
The problem is we are not called to judge. It is not our job. Our job is to love without judging. Admittedly a difficult job. When someone is everything you despise it is hard to think about accepting and loving but that is what God expects. In spite of what we see in front of us we have to see the human being that God made.
Forgiving God, help us to understand that we are not called to judge. Teach us to see you in everyone we meet. AMEN
God definitely has a sense of humor. Just when you think that you have everything in place the whole plan falls apart. I am sure that God wants us to stay flexible and follow His plan. Sometimes it is not the plan that we had in mind or even wanted to follow. When things hit us like a pie in the face we have to maintain a sense of humor. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves, wipe the pie off our faces and follow God.
Loving God, I am sure that you laugh at us a lot but hope that we can get up and do your will. Help us to learn to move ourselves out of the way and follow you.
Life is not a bed of roses. Things happen that cause us pain. We can get discouraged. But God never promised that life would be perfect. He did promise that he would be with us every day. His strength is there for us no matter what. Take a deep breath and lean on Him. He can take it!
Loving God, thank you for being there every moment. We are blessed that you carry the burden when we can’t. AMEN
God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals, and thinks in man.
Arthur Young
God created all things. The Bible gave us the most wonderful picture of how that happened. He then turned the responsibility over to us to care for it. What have we done? We have raped the earth. We have thought only of ourselves and our wants. I hope it is not too late to reverse the damage but it will take every one of us. Do anything you can to halt the damage.
Forgiving Lord, we have sinned against your creation. Help us to move swiftly to make up for our abuse. AMEN
Our actions can make a difference. I met someone I hadn’t seen in years and hardly remembered. The person greeted me with great warmth and told me that I changed her life! I didn’t remember anything about this. I had no idea what I had done but she did. We can make the difference in someone’s life…..mostly by love. God has called us to love one another. We may never know the result of our interaction….but God does. And we might know someday… but we may not. Be aware every day that you may be the difference!
Loving God, you have called to reach out in love. Help us to take those opportunities seriously and reach out to others.
Each day we meet people whether at our job, walking on the street or maybe even on the phone. We never know what is going on in the lives of the people we meet. Even when talking to someone on the phone we can smile. You can hear it in a voice. Smile as you pass people on the street. You may be the only person who acknowledged their existence today. You have no idea what that simple gesture can mean.
Merciful God, forgive us for not passing on the love that you have shown us. Help us to smile at others and wish them the best. Amen
Hear God in Other Voices 