O Lord, you are my shepherd and my Divine King. Because YOU ARE, I will not suffer in want. Help me to trust you to meet my needs.
You, O Lord, provide for me time and space for rest. Let me willingly and eagerly go to lie in your green pastures! Let me rest by the peaceful still waters and allow you to restore my soul. In your presence I am made whole.
O Lord, lead me in right paths and for your name’s sake grant me grace to go only where you lead, ever forsaking my own ways.
Sometimes I walk through deep and dark valleys, yet you are with me and evil cannot touch me. You protect me, even with your Holy rod and staff to correct and guide. Lord, forever keep me from harm.
You feed me, My Lord, at your table until I am more than satisfied … even in the presence of those who wish me evil. You honor me, anointing my head with oil, filling me with your Spirit. I am in awe.
May your goodness and mercy follow me all of my days. Lord, let me dwell in your Kingdom, now and forever.
AMEN
I was listening to a little girl read the other day and observed an interesting behavior. Three times as she read a short story, she read a sentence then went back to go over and over a particular word. In all three cases she had read the entire sentence correctly the first time, and in one instance as she tried different ways to say the word she ultimately changed her original decision and then read the word wrong. At least once I had to tell her to just move on; she seemed stuck in that pattern of repeating different ways to read the word without making a definite decision. On the assessment form I made the notation, “lacks confidence.”
Afterward I began to think of all the times I’ve been so afraid of “doing it wrong” that I’ve second guessed myself. I’ve even, at times, refrained from making any decision at all feeling that this would be better than possibly making the wrong one. Quite often at times like these I knew the “right” course, I just didn’t trust my ability to make a good decision or to discern God’s will at the moment. I had heard the voice of the spirit inside me yet doubted.
I thank God that I feel the freedom now to make a mistake and still be assured of God’s total love and acceptance. I thank God that I have realized that many times there is more than one “right” way, and also that what is right for me may not be right for someone else. I am not saying that there are NO absolutes, of course, but merely that there are probably fewer that I once thought. I’ve come to believe that God is a lot more open minded that I often have been.
I need to write. Not just because if I don’t pretty soon all 5 1/2 people who read this blog may just give up and never come back. While that’s a good reason to get going, the real reason is that I need to write for me. Jumping in now…..
Last week I started a new school year. Same school, same room, different kids. This is my 10th year teaching, and it was the most difficult first three days of school that I have ever experienced. By Friday afternoon I was frustrated, tired, and angry with myself for raising my voice too often. I rearranged the seats, trying to seperate the “problem” kids, but there weren’t enough “good” kids to accomplish that goal. I then spent a couple of hours planning for next week. Little wonder I chose to drink something stronger than iced tea by the time I got home.
Monday morning will be here all too soon and I have to go back to my classroom and face the challenges I’ve been presented with. I also have to somehow not let it all get to me. I am all too aware that ineffectively dealing with stress over a number of years was a precursor to my becoming so ill last fall. I don’t know how to do all this. I do know however, that God can bring peace, to my students and to me, in the midst of it all. I think I need to pray now.
OUR PART is to pray;
God’s part is to weave everything
into the tapestry
of the divine will.
From page 95 of Talking in the Dark: Praying When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Steve Harper. Copyright © 2007 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books.
Professional weavers of old often had assistants who performed the task of setting up the loom with the warp threads. After that, the master weaver wove the tapestry. Only he or she would have the skill to use the warp and weft threads together to form the intricate pattern envisioned for the tapestry.
When we pray we are as the assistant, setting things up. Only God can actually weave the tapestry. Yet how often do we try to tell the Master Weaver how to weave? We need to remember that we simply do not have the skill, nor the vision, to do this. Our headstrong attempts would lead to disaster should the Weaver allow us to have our way.
**Prayer ** Lord, help me to pray and then completely release those prayers to you. Only you can see the whole picture. Only you can use those concerns I lift to you in prayer to weave the divine tapestry of my own life and the lives of the others for whom I pray. I worship you, Master Weaver. I desire to trust you more. Amen.
It’s a really scary world we live in.
I was horrified to hear the new report of the shootings at Virginia Tech today. Senseless, insane, and evil are words that came to my mind as I watched the news broadcast focused on this tragic event. Only God knows, at least at this point, what could possibly have possessed a person to open fire on a college campus intending to kill innocent people. I have two kids in college so this really hits home. The thing is though, this could just have easily happened at the local mall or Wal-mart or well, nearly anyplace.
Only God knows….and that is the point. We live in a broken world that is looking more broken by the day, or so it seems. There is no safe place. There is no place to hide from the bad guys. Evil comes in a myriad of forms, and there is nowhere to go that we will not at some times be touched by it. How our creator must grieve at the state of creation!
Only God knows; and the only thing I know for sure is God. I can choose to live in fear, or I can choose to live in faith that God is in control of my life. I can stay home and hide, or I can live well in spite of everything, trusting that God will keep me safe. I can become consumed with worry, or I can put myself and those I love in God’s hands, trusting that God is taking care of us. Easy to say; harder to do. Lord help me.
