Pathways Press.com

MEDITATION:

Written by Joan Puls, a contemporary author. This is an excerpt from her book “Every Bush is Burning.”

The ability to let go, to abandon oneself in faith and obedience, creates a heart that is docile and humble. Both notions are fairly foreign to our independent, stubborn, self-reliant spirits. Both virtues are fairly absent in our assertive, self-confident, self-indulgent circles. But uncovering their meaning and their message to us twentieth-century [and twenty-first century] Christians is crucial for the spirituality of our times.

PRAYER:

Written by Margaret Grun Kibben, contemporary Chaplain to the US House of Representatives and former Chief of Chaplains for the US Navy.

God our shepherd, You have entrusted us with the responsibility to tend Your sheep, to feed them and watch over them. May we be worthy of this mantle of awesome responsibility and live wholeheartedly into this task. May nothing we do be done simply out of obligation. But having received Your tender mercies in our own lives, may we be eager to serve You and those whom You have commended to our care. And if we lose sight of Your claim on our lives and waver in our duties, call us to examine the multitude of instances where You have showered Your grace upon us. How then can we help but be so transformed that we would want nothing else but to give of ourselves from the depths of our souls? May we then be examples of what it means to serve You. May we live lives of kindness and humility, not lifting ourselves up, but waiting with patience for the moment when, in the fullness of time, You reveal the purpose for all our efforts and energies, in Your gracious plan. In the meantime, we cast ourselves––our anxieties, our best intentions, and our most fervent hopes on You––in sure and certain hope of Your steadfast love for us. It is in the strength of Your name we pray. Amen.