Artist: Wilhelm Trübner Maybe I ought to have saved this for Lent but I found it today and liked it very much even though it's about hard awarenesses. It occurs to me that we need prayers like this throughout the year:
Penetrate these murky corners
where we hide our memories
and tendencies on which we do not care to look,
but which we will not yield freely up to you,
that you may purify and transmute them.
The persistent buried grudge,
the half-acknowledged enmity
which is still smouldering,
the bitterness of that loss
we have not turned into sacrifice,
the private comfort we cling to,
the secret fear of failure which saps our
initiative and is really inverted pride,
the pessimism which is an insult to your joy.
Lord, we bring all these to you, and we review them
with shame and penitence
in your steadfast light.
Beautiful Ellie. How many times do we just allow him to wipe the surface clean. This prayer invites him to go deep and that is both difficult and painful. But, the result is pure joy.
ReplyDeleteAndie
This says it all! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Andie and Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, can you please give us a name for yourself? (It can be a screen name if you like.)
Thank you. I'm copying this for myself.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. Where did you find it, Ellie, if you don't mind my asking? ...
ReplyDeleteSure, Cathy. I found it on the Praying Each Day site on the list of 100 Prayers:
ReplyDeletePraying Each Day
It was number 33.
Thanks, Ellie :-)
ReplyDelete