Friday Prayer, May 12, 2017

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – God has made all things beautiful in their time….

Timing….

It impacts everything, doesn’t it? We can have a clear picture of what we want/need to happen in our lives, but find ourselves at a standstill because of timing. You’ve probably heard the quote, too, that “the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing…”

And yet, the waiting is so challenging. It requires every ounce of trust we can muster, and a daily decision to surrender (again!!!). I’m not speaking of resignation or passivity. Your soul, your prayers, your inner work still progress toward and believe in the hoped-for-end. But you are willing to let the necessary earlier steps have their place.

You let God’s hands hold things until God says, “your turn.”

And in the meantime, while God does God’s thing,

we can enjoy the beauty that’s already there….

***

God of all seasons,

You make all things beautiful in their time.

As I prepare to enter the weekend before me,

please open my soul, God, to the beauty –

the surprising beauty –

around me.

 

My prayer is that I will journey

through this day with an awareness bringing

gratitude,

celebration, and

fresh hope.

 

So often, God, I miss the beauty

or even blind to it when it’s before me.

Your blossoms can draw me in

from distraction.

 

May I witness your brightness in the greening earth and birds’ song

as well as the restaurant waiter or the child’s sidewalk chalk.

 

Help me journey through the seasons –

even the seasons within this day before me –

with a grace and a patience that makes others feel at home.

 

Loving God, I rest in you

and your working to make all things beautiful –

someday, somehow.

 

In the name of the One

who showed us true beauty in human life,

Amen.