Good News

Samantha is home from her two-week training stay. Results: she can sit, stay, heel. Assessment: sweet personality but stubborn. We're going to have to work on "Down." Discipline - much needed and hard to come by. Takes time, effort and consistency. Read my Bible, pray, worship. Help me, Lord! Encourage in me a yearning for a deeper relationship with you, a trust and willingness to follow your lead. Help me see when I need to sit, to stay for a while, to abide in you. When it's time to go, help me follow you and you alone. All this I pray in your holy and gracious name. Amen.

I listened with love and sadness, Lord, as she poured out her heart, inwardly acknowledging the reality of heartache in one area of life and amazing joy in another. You called us to be light, knowing that darkness is part of the pattern of our lives. By your Spirit inspire love to bring hope and faith by word and deed. Use me, my Lord, however and wherever you desire as you weave intricate patterns of light, love and hope to bring beauty into our lives. I pray in your name and grace. Amen.

Their eyes linger in my memory, Lord, bright, intelligent, hopeful, joyful, energetic. In their eyes I see lives full of potential and possibility. In their eyes I see your incredible love and grace as together we worked to bring about your merciful and good will. May I never forget their eyes or lose the passion you put in my heart to help their potential become promise and their hope turn to happiness. May your kingdom come, O Lord, in eyes that shine and spirits that burn with your love. I pray in your name and grace. Amen.

From Peguy Ville, Quest, Haiti - How blessed I am to experience your love in new and wondrous ways - young boys surround me to write their names and ages in the sand as a way to exchange information and be in relationship, even if briefly. Church ladies fixing such delicious meals for us and for the community. Andy providing the liaison to the community leaders so work could progress smoothly. Three boys help pick up trash - willingly and enthusiastically! And so much more. Your love overflows from these lives and ours. It's a marvel of grace, and you are the heartbeat. May your name be praised and your love be shared in all ways for all our days. This I pray in your holy name. Amen

It begins, Lord, a 40-day journey into your heart. Am I ready? Perhaps a better question is am I willing? Packing for Haiti means a whole lot of stuff for them and as little as possible for me. Why can't I get along with little on life's journey? Perhaps that's a lesson I can take to heart this Lenten season. I'll surely fail along the way, but you will reach out - again - and pick me up, dust me off and take my hand to begin again. Yes, Lord, I'm willing, with you. Amen.

Which one, Lord, crashed into the window and left a little downy feather clinging to the glass? Did it survive, stunned perhaps but able to rejoin its flock? You created that little one and all that is. Your love and unending mercy claims us all. Your grace overshadows us and your presence heals and makes whole. Your knowledge is both infinite and intimate. I praise your name and pray that you will protect, renew and restore me that I might serve you ever more faithfully today and every day. Amen.

Swaddled in the covers, Lord, I awake slowly, reluctantly almost. "This is the day that you have made, I will rejoice and be glad in it! " OK. I drift, thinking of the coming day. Birdsong penetrates my thinking-praying; it's time to greet the day. You tell us not to be anxious; you provide for the birds of the air and you'll provide for me, too. OK. Be with me, Lord, in all ways and all things, that I might serve you wisely, compassionately, selflessly, and faithfully. I pray in your name. Amen.

Almighty God, my heart rejoices to see or to remember glorious sunrises and sunsets - masterpieces of your creation. Breath-taking colors, whether vibrantly hued or subtly painted across the horizon, finally yield to the blue of day or the dark of night. Even then the promise awaits; colors now hidden are revealed by the power of the sun to paint another sky, So it is with your love, sometimes vibrantly visible, sometimes hidden to the human eye, always working to bring about your good and perfect will. As I rest and as I work, may my life be painted with the beauty of your grace and the constancy of your love by the power of your Son, in whose name I pray. Amen.

Lord you surely know this man's name. Ever vigilant, he patrols the roads to catch those of us who try to bend the rules - OK, break the law. But Dad told me the police don't pull you over for going 5 mph over the speed limit. Officer Friendly, though, he stopped me and gave me a warning for speed limit plus 5. Good grief! Yes well, limits are there for a reason. May your Spirit continue to help me grow in self-control, gentleness and patience. And always, Lord, help me love as you love, especially Officer Friendly, for I know that both he and I are deeply loved by you, my Lord and my Savior. I pray in your name. Amen.

What's with that tree, Lord? It still has its leaves. Brown and dry, they stubbornly cling to the branches. Or does the tree stubbornly cling to the leaves? Am I like that, stubbornly hanging on to that which is dry and lifeless in my life? Help me see the habits, ways of thinking, accustomed luxuries that are dry and lifeless. Help me shed these dead 'leaves' that your love might emerge more and more, full of life and able to nourish that small part of the tree that I occupy. All this I pray in your power and grace. Amen.

The bulbs' new leaves are just coming up, Lord; such a delightful sight! Even though we tilled that bed last year and some bulbs were no doubt poorly replanted, they still find a way to sprout and bloom. Would that my own spirit, seeking to grow and flower, was so determined and single-minded. For surely your light is life, and you are the way to a love pure and infinite. No matter how sideways or upside down my life might be at times, I pray that your Spirit within will guide me to you as surely as the bulb sends its leaves upward to the light, the source of its life - as you are the source of mine. Hear my prayer, my Lord, as it is in your name and grace that I pray. Amen.

It’s a foggy morning, Lord, but I suspect you know that. Life’s a bit foggy, too, at times – but I suspect you know that also! Give us wisdom to know when we have strayed from your path and humility to admit our waywardness. Give us clarity, gracious One, to see the way forward. Help us set aside that which hinders our way – pride, envy, discouragement, negativity, hopelessness or any of the other sins which sabotage our relationship with you and others. Let us live out of that which flows from your grace, the lifegiving love, joy, hope and peace of your Spirit, as we pray in your name. Amen.

Lord, Lord, how I laughed watching a couple supposedly dancing together. The woman was pushing the man where she wanted to go, thinking it was better. He was the expert, though, so she just looked ridiculous. How ridiculous I must look trying to direct you in our dance. When will I learn to follow rather than lead? I know you're the expert, know the plan and how to accomplish the dance in the best way possible. Forgive me, my Lord. Help me follow your lead every day so our dance may truly be a thing of beauty, I pray in your name, power and grace. Amen.