A Prayer for student drivers…and their parents

Father God,

We acknowledge that one of the scariest, and most important part of a teenager’s life, and that of their parents’ as well, is driver’s education.

For some it is an easily traversed rite of passage and for other’s it is a bumpy ride. For some it is a joyful experience of pleasure and opportunity for new responsibilities and a positive change in the relationship between kids and parents and for some, it is not.

Give patience to both parents and kids, and other drivers who, at times remind us of how not to respond on the road.

For those who teach in the class and in the car help them as well. Grant safety to all involved.

And thank you Father, for the joy of driving.

Amen

A Father’s Day Prayer 2011

My Heavenly Father who is just and holy and loving and graceful,

I come to you on behalf of father’s far and wide today and ask that through Your grace, mercy, and power help all of us to be better fathers.

For those dads who serve our nation this day in war zones and around this nation and world, protect and guide them this day. May they be home soon.

For those dads who are wounded because of the terribleness of war and for whom life will never be the same, I pray that Your grace and mercy will be with them as they take each day as it comes. For the wives, children, and families, I pray that You will strengthen their bonds of love, no matter how stretched they are, and bring peace to them as well.

For those dads who are incarcerated, God as only You can, love them, speak to them, and help them to know that they are not far from Your love even though they may feel far from the love of their children and families. Help them, even those who are on death row and in for life, to know that there is a good God who still reaches out to them as a Heavenly Father can do.

For those dads who struggle with addiction, help their families to no longer enable them but to help them find the help they need. And for those who deal with mental illness, look upon them and their families and do not let shame or shaming keep them from getting the help they need. Love them deeply.

For fathers who are struggling with work, help them to find the right kind of employment, move in the hearts of those who hire to do the right thing, and provide for their needs in the meantime.

For fathers who are single parents, grant Your grace and mercy to them each day that they will have the right kind of resoluteness in their parenting.

For dads who are grieving and mourning the death of a child, O Father we pray that You will love them as only You can.

And finally Lord for those dads who will be beside the bed of a sick child or spouse, or a parent who is dying, send Your peace there and may their peace among and with all those present.

Through Christ our Lord who taught us to pray

Our Father…

… Amen

 

A Mother’s Day Prayer

Image by gem66 via Flickr

Father,

I thank you first of all for my mother whose simple faith and love of books has become an integral part of my life. I ask that, in the season of life she is in, you will remind her that You are the same God that she believed in and trusted so many, years ago and affirm her faith and trust in You.

For my wife, I give You thanks as well. She is a hard worker and goes much farther than I do as a wife, mom, educational aide, and pastor’s wife. Strengthen and affirm her and Father, help me do a better job of supporting her in my daily tasks, in speaking well of her, and listening well to her.

For my mother-in-law and sister-in-law I also give you thanks. I value their work and relationship of nearly 30 years. Bless them Lord this special day and everyday.

For mothers who are expecting, help them during this wonderful time. And, no matter circumstances of their pregnancy, I ask that you would strengthen them and sustain them and their unborn child.

For mothers who are grieving the death of a child, no matter how young or old they are, be with them as we grieve with them.

For mothers who are in situations in which the evil and ugly head of domestic violence has reared itself, help them find a safe place for them and their children.

For mothers who are incarcerated, Lord God, care for them and love them as only You can and I pray that what communication and connection can and is able to happen would happen for their benefit as well as the benefit of their families.

For mothers, and fathers, who are going through the adoption process, give them Your peace and aid and help them as they go through it. We pray that You will help them have wisdom and discernment as they do so and help them to accept whatever the outcome might be as it comes to important points.

Finally Father I pray that you will be with those women who are unable to have children or are trying to. God be their source of hope and strength and put good and helpful people in their path as they go through this process. For those who are dealing with the finality of infertility, God love them and encourage them and be with them.

Amen

Sunday morning prayer for Southern Colleagues

Father
I simply ask that on this Sunday, you will be with my colleagues in Alabama, Georgia, and elsewhere who are worshipping under difficult circumstances. Some are leading congregations who have lost their buildings and others have lost congregations to the deadly weather of this past week. Some have lost both and some are without homes. Speak words fo comfort and mercy to them and through them. May all feel Your presence this day.

Amen.

Advent Prayer for this Hump Day

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In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan/earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;/Snow had fallen snow, snow on snow, snow on snow/In the bleak midwinter, Long ago.

Christina Rossetti

CRAHAM, irregular

Gustav Holst

Today Lord it is  cold not just outside but inside too.

I feel the cold of apathy borne by the winds of an overwhelming schedule

I feel the frigidness of conflict borne by the winds of an overwhelmed heart

The earth, creation, where I live has turned hard like iron.

Snow covers everything in a bright deathly white over the decaying remains of fall.

I see, and feel the snow, covering my heart in the same way.

Oh God of grace and mercy

Warm our hearts this day with nothing but your loving and omnipresent presence.

Melt the snow and shine the light of your holiness on our souls that they will break forth in new growth…

in the middle of this December week.

Amen.

A Prayer for being ‘in the midst of…’

Father on this day we find ourselves ‘in the midst of…’

this week

this day

this moment

We are dealing with life that is both wonderful and overwhelming at the same time. ..

in the office

at home

in the classroom

on the athletic court

on the stage

while shopping

beside the hospital bed

…in the midst of joy, anger, fear, sadness, lust, anxiety, hope, love, opportunity

Be with us this day Father and help us to see You and experience Your grace and love

so that we can confidently (not arrogantly) but confidently have peace and hope

… in the midst of all that we are doing

and

to help others be able to do the same

Through Christ our Lord and Savior

Amen

A Monday prayer for my kids

Father,

I thank you for my kids who reminded me that my life, as much as I sometimes want it to be, is not my own. May they walk the path of life You have for them and help me to guide them in the way that You want them to go.

Amen

A Prayer for Saturday Morning Test Takers

 

Image via Wikipedia

 

Good morning Father

Today I was just reminded that there are Saturday morning test takers entering High School buildings and other places as well across this country  to take a college entrance test.

Lord help them to do their best this day.

Give them clear minds and a steady heart as they take the test.

Help them to understand the questions as they take the test.

Be with the proctors, help them to be firm but fair, as they administer the test.

And as they get their results back, help them to accept the result with a good spirit and attitude.

Guide their path in all things and may they seek You and find You during this important time of life.

Amen

Nameless Thursday Prayer

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Father,

In Your wonderful hand you created what we call ‘day’ and over the eons, we have given them names.

Today is Thursday, Lord.

In our time and place we often celebrate Fridays because it is the ‘end of the week’ and front end of the weekend when we can get away from the job.

We bemoan Mondays because it starts ‘the week’ and its attendant challenges all over again.

We have begun to look at Wednesday as ‘hump day’ as the day in the middle when we get over the hump of the week and look forward to the downward coast to the weekend.

In Your economy Father, do You not see all the days alike? Is not each day holy and important to You?

On this Thursday I ask for You to be with us as we enter, it seems, a twilight zone of time and wonder how it is going to turn out.  Some of us today are facing a diagnosis that we do not want to hear. Others of us are finding out that our employment is about to come to an end.

Still others are waiting word on a loved one, in the military, in the OR and/or ER, and we ask for Your grace and mercy to be with us and them.

Father, some of us are in a spiritual twilight zone, we are aware of Your wonderful love and grace in some new ways while we are also mindful that we are, like the publican, still sinners in need of forgiveness as we have become aware of,  at a new level, that our sinfulness is as black and deep as ever.

So Lord I ask for myself, and for those who read this prayer, that you would be with us on the Nameless Thursday and may Your wonderful Word, name in a day of grace, a day of redemption, and a day of hope and healing.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord, and hallelujah, our Savior!

 

Amen.

 

A Tuesday Prayer for Pilgrimage

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What I am praying this week: September 28, 2010

Father, some of my friends and acquaintances are on a pilgrimage this week.

Some are walking across this nation or across other nations for a purpose that is larger than themselves. Some of the people who see them despise them and wonder why they are not looking for a job and doing something productive. Others are behind them 100% and are helping them along the way. Others, I confess, wish them harm because they stand for what is right, just, and honoring to You.

In their journey Lord, we ask that Your truth and Your justice and Your way is done.

Father, are we not all on our pilgrimage today? Some of us Lord are moving in direction and others of us are in another one. Our journey is internal.

Be with us in our walk, show up and encourage us when we need a dose of Your hope.  Show up and dismay us when we need to be shaken out of our complacency.

Walk beside us. Walk behind us. Walk ahead of us.

Let us arrive where we need to be at this point and on this day.

Amen.