December 2020 Prayers

 December 02, 2020

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." -- 2 Cor. 3:17-18

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"And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." -- Col. 3:12

God, you have used these verses to remind me of what is true. 
What is lovely is 
the glory of God on unveiled faces
imago dei
a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience

You list other things in your Word, but these were the two verses that you have used to speak to me today.
I confess I have allowed things other than your Word to shape my perceptions and shift my focus back to me.

amen

December 03, 2020

Lord, 
Some days, prayer comes easily. 
Other days feel like it's being put through a strainer--trying to separate juices from pulp.
I am chagrined that the only time I have sought you has been this small moment before sleep, the result of trying to rush to the end of each day, of each week, of each month, to find the end of the stress and exhaustion this semester.

I am nostalgic for the hope and wonder I had at 18, at 23, at 29.

2018--prayers answered. 
2019--joy restored.
2020--straining for hope.

Reflecting on this year gives me whiplash, and yet, there is still so much to be thankful for...


My limbs are weary.
My eyes are heavy.
In all of this, I say
my God reigns.

Surely, He has the
final say here

for, on the cross,
(tetelestai)
it is finished, indeed.

Gone is aimless hope.
Dead is sin's jurisdiction.

I am alive and well,
for where the Spirit of the Lord lives, 
there is freedom!

Like a bride with lifted veil,
I have seen God's glory.

Like lovers at a wedding feast, 
I have tasted of the goodness of God.

All else is dross. 
Isn't that how the saying goes?
Or is it,
what can wash away my sin, make me whole again?

No thing
(nothing)
but the blood of Jesus.

Open, eyes so heavy.
Dance, limbs so weary.
The king is returning.

He does not leave nor forsake me.
What can separate me from the love of God?
No (nothing) created thing.

As it is written,
even if I am faithless,
God is faithful.
He cannot deny himself.

amen