Saturday, December 28, 2013

a prayer for the New Year (reprised for 2014)

Hey friends-- I wrote out this prayer and posted it at the very beginning of 2011.  I read it again this morning on the brink of 2014.   

As many of you know, I haven't posted in quite a while--I've had my hands full.  This past year has been a challenging one for us, and so these words feel very real and alive to me.  I re-posted it in the hope that this could be fuel for your own prayer for the new year, and that brilliant HOPE will be very much alive for all of us!


God I give You
last year
with its close calls
rescues
traps and sorrows
collapses and renewals
crises and joys
stains and scars

and I hope somehow
I lived it well
in Your wise eyes.

I give You this new year
with all its bright and shine
caution and hope
I lift it high up to You now
when it has barely broken the horizon

take it up into Your hands
along with my soul
look them over with Your keen eye
trim away the chaff
the chaos
the reticence
and re-fire me to go
poised at the gate
fueled with hope
blackened with the burn marks from last year
but rich with the hard-won lessons
and ready to go again
as the planet is ready
for a new revolution around the sun

there is much to learn
adventures to welcome and not to fear
as I step onto Your proving ground
knowing You post Your angels everywhere
and that the same providence
that guided me through the last wild ride
is all still there
ever aware
on the watch
and worthy of my second-by-second trust.

O God
say the word
I'm ready to go
into the rising New Year
even though
my knees might be shaking
a little
from the old one.

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