mindless carnival toys
Sometimes I feel like I’m lost, Lord. I can’t seem to see where I’m going for all the distractions around me. I head one direction, thinking that’s where you want me to go, only to find it gets me nowhere. I turn around and try again with the same result. I feel like I’m [...]
never ending steps
Sometimes, Lord, I feel like I can do anything. I believe there is no mountain too big to defeat me. I believe that no matter how steep or how high that mountain is, I can climb it with ease. I believe these things because I know you are my God, and you are capable [...]
from dawn to dusk
Lord, you are a magnificent God. God of grace. God of blessing and wonder. You heard my cry, my petition of concern. You did not turn a deaf ear, but smiled upon my request. When I finally, prayed with the smallest mustard seed of faith, you grew my tree overnight as if it were [...]
swept into the stream
I rushed about yesterday, Lord, failing to see the landscape around me. I knew it would happen. I even talked about it with you in the morning. I had things to do that I knew would be frustrating and time consuming. I talked with you about my need for calm and contentment, the need [...]
sadness weighs upon me
Sadness weighs upon me until I can no longer hold my head up, Lord. I bow and weep. I feel defeat and want very much to to retreat. I want to stop the fighting and run from my troubles. I fantasize sometimes about starting all over somewhere else where there will be no problems. At other [...]
watch the traffic go by
It is easy to sit by the road and watch the traffic go by, Lord. Parked under a nice shade tree, I have a good view of the mountain to my south. I can see the sun rising and setting and watch the busyness of the world along the highway. I parked here initially [...]
a glimpse of the risen Jesus
I’m a friend of Cleopas, Jesus. At least I would have been had I lived in Jerusalem. The day of your resurrection I walk with him and another friend a few miles down the road to Jericho. I’m perplexed at the news. Alive! The women say he is alive! Who do they take me [...]
a day of silence
The day after your crucifixion, Lord, the scriptures are silent.
A day of sabbath, disciples retreated to their homes and locked their doors.
Stunned. Waiting. Grieving. Silent.
So, I, too, offer my silence this day.
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prayers from the cross
Jesus, the prayer you prayed on Good Friday that came to my mind first this morning was your cry of abandonment, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” I thought of this one perhaps because I, too, have felt abandoned at times in my life. Then, however, I reread the account of [...]
gethsemane prayers
Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane you showed me how to pray. Seldom, if ever, have I prayed with the kind intensity that you prayed that night. I’m much more like Peter, James, and John who didn’t fully grasp the significance of that moment. Help me, Lord, to understand the magnitude of spiritual issues, [...]
oneness joins two
I desire oneness with you, Jesus. I understand you want the same with me. You prayed for that oneness during the days before your death. To be one with you would mean I would faultlessly understand your will. I could understand your mysteries. I would perfectly walk in your ways every day. If I [...]
asking for trees to wither
Lord, yesterday when I asked you to teach your church how to pray, it wasn’t me I had in mind. I’ve been praying everyday for decades. Surely, I have it down by now. I was thinking of everyone else. However, you were quick to remind me that I, too, have a long way to go.
In [...]
a place of prayer
Lord, it is hard for me to understand the purpose of the church. As much as we may profess it or want it, the modern church is different from its first century counterpart. Sometimes I sit in the pew wondering if what I’m experiencing is at all what you had in mind. The first thing [...]
stones will cry out
On this Palm Sunday so long ago you were on top of your game, Jesus. You told the disciples to go get a colt and they obeyed. All you needed to do was speak and people jumped. As you descended into Jerusalem the crowds threw down their cloaks and shouted, “Blessed is the King!” [...]
sunset on the rock face
Lord, the west facing rock is black at dawn. Lying in deep shadows one cannot see the texture, crevices, and colors. It is little more than cold stone, hard and unforgiving. It’s secrets and potential hidden. At noon, the rock turns shades of gray and black, harsh shadow from overhead. The afternoon sun strikes [...]
in the face of the steer
I heard the story yesterday, Lord, of a church in Turkey where every adult member recently received threatening phone calls. If they didn’t renounce Christ and raise their children in Islam, said the caller, they would be killed. How little things have changed since Paul walked those same roads! I can only imagine the [...]
dwarfed by the prairie
In the middle of the prairie, Lord, I am dwarfed–dwarfed by the ocean of prairie grass that separate me from civilization, dwarfed by the distant mountain islands that speckle the horizon, dwarfed by the vast sky endless above me, dwarfed by the elephant clouds constantly changing character.
Your prairie reminds me of my smallness and of your [...]
distorted reflections
I marvel at your beauty, Lord, and want so desperately to reflect it in my own life. Yet, no matter how hard I try, my reflections are imperfect. They appear distorted, blurred, and undefined. I think it’s possible for others to see glimpses of you in me, but the overall picture they get is [...]
sitting on a bench
I saw a homeless woman sitting on a park bench early one more morning, Lord. A piece of cardboard beneath her protected her from the snow. An old blanket draped over her shoulders covered layers of tattered clothes. She sat silent and still as if waiting for a bus. Except no bus passed by that [...]
like a lone tree
Some days, Lord, I feel like a lone tree standing on a deserted plain. I fight with the prairie grass for the drops of moisture to keep me alive. I bend beneath the constant gale-force winds that try to unroot me. The occasional passerby barely notices my unmajestic form. I am alone.
I wish for [...]
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