A time to grow

October 15, 2022

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God,
our master storyteller
whose epic saga
stretches to infinity,
help us to do the work
of healing in our own lives
and in the world
so that the next generations
can be a little freer–
for we do not see
the ripples our lives make,
but you know their significance
and are always leading us toward the arc of love–
if we pay attention.

2 Peter 3: 8-9 Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.

Ephesians 4: 14-16 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are easy prey for predators. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

September 24, 2022

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Our master gardener,
keeper of the flora and fauna,
the plants and the people,
help us to remember
that we are meant to nurture and nourish
one another
in this great dance
of giving and receiving,
living and dying–
for we are interdependent,
intended for harmony,
each contributing to your glory.

Psalm 104: 14-31 Oh yes, God brings grain from the land, wine to make people happy, their faces glowing with health, a people well-fed and hearty. God’s trees are well-watered–the Lebanon cedars he planted. Birds build their nests in those trees; look–the stork at home in the treetop. Mountain goats climb about the cliffs; badgers burrow among the rocks. The moon keeps track of the seasons, the sun is in charge of each day. When it’s dark and night takes over, all the forest creatures come out. The young lions roar for their prey, clamoring to God for their supper. When the sun comes up, they vanish, lazily stretched out in their dens. Meanwhile, men and women go out to work, busy at their jobs until evening. What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look–the deep, wide seas, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around: you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they’d die in a minute–take back your spirit and they die, revert to original mud; send out your spirit and they spring to life–the whole countryside in bloom and blossom. The glory of God–let it last forever! Let God enjoy his creation!

Psalm 65: 9-13 Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance! Deck her out in spring showers, fill the God-Rive with living water. Paint the wheat fields golden. Creation was made for this! Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods with rainfall as harrow and rake bring her to blossom and fruit. Snow-crown the peaks with splendor, scatter rose petals down your paths, all through the wild meadows, rose petals. Set the hills to dancing, dress the canyon walls with live sheep, a drape of flax across the valleys. Let them shout, and shout, and shout! Oh, oh, let them sing!

September 17, 2022

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All expansive God,
one who sees all
and whose hands and heart
are always open–
help me surrender
all my defense mechanisms
to you.
Help me to recognize
all the ways I am closed off
to you,
to the world.
Begin to open my heart,
and turn my whole being toward you,
for that is what it means to live in faith–
trusting every part of me to you,
allowing myself to receive
the grace you so long to give.

Psalm 139: 1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too–your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful–I can’t take it all in!

Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything yo do, everywhere you go; he’s the one will keep you on track.

Isaiah 30: 18 But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.


September 10, 2022

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Master potter,
brilliant creator,
I have hidden myself
within the lump of clay.
Chip away at my false beliefs
and defense mechanisms.
Sculpt me into the form
you desire,
the beautiful, precious
essence of me
you dreamed up
and placed in the world–
for I yearn to emerge.

Isaiah 64:8 Still, God, you are our Father. We’re the clay and you’re our potter: All of us are what you made us.

July 16, 2022

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God of Hagar,
the divine alive who sees me,
help me to see myself
as you see me–
because that would change everything.

Genesis 16:13-14 She (Hagar) answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me! Yes! He saw me: and then I saw him!” That’s how that desert spring got named “God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring.” That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

June 26, 2022

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Wildly wonderful world maker,
teach us to love creation
as you do
because, maybe then
we would learn
to stop destroying
and start stewarding–
to live in harmony,
joining in
this great interconnected dance–
for all your creation
is meant to bring you glory.

Psalm 104: 24 What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.

Isaiah 55: 12-13 “So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. the mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines–monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God.”

Colossians 1: 15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

June 4, 2022

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Our master gardener,
train me on the trellis
in which I should grow.
Show me where to extend
and deepen my roots.
Show me where to reach out
my new tendrils,
grasping on tight
through the storms and the droughts–
for I want to be healthy
and bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17: 7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.

Matthew 13: 23 “The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”

John 15: 16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.”

May 1, 2022

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Our creator,
one who crafted
our intricate bodies,
help us to live at home in them.
Help us to release
fear, anxiety, envy, shame, the need to control
with every breath out
and to welcome
love, joy, gratitude, wonder, openness
with every breath in
because what we hold in our bodies matters–
for they are your living sanctuaries.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

April 23, 2022

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All wise teacher,
thank you for the guides
you place in our lives.
We ask that you would give us
ears to hear,
eyes to see,
hearts to feel,
minds to be open,
and bodies to know
the lessons you gift us–
if we pay attention–
for you are ever teaching.

Matthew 13: 16-17 But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.

Proverbs 20: 12 Ears that hear and eyes that see– we get our basic equipment from God!

January 22, 2022

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Creator of all life,
teach us to see our own bodies
and all bodies
the way you do–
beautiful and bright,
glorious in our uniqueness,
deserving of respect and reverence,
for our bodies are your sacred creation.

,

1 Corinthians 39-40: You will notice the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies–humans, animals, birds, fish–each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies–sun, moon, stars–all these varieties of beauty and brightness.