PrayingWithMyFingers

Dear God,
The function of self denial is to break up of my hardness of heart.  How do I become more of a giver and less of a taker?  How?  Surrender.  Here I am again trying to decide how I do this or I do that.  I can’t seem to remember that I cannot do the work of my own salvation.  I cannot even effectively surrender to allowing You, God to do what only You, God can do!  What You, God require of my soul is surrender.
I must become willing to …

Dear God,
What a beautiful day it has been!  And, it is so appropriate that Sunday is excluded as part of the Lenten fast and is celebrated as a “Feast” day.  The day has felt like a feast to me.  I slept in till almost 9am!  I hardly ever sleep past 7am and especially not since getting the puppies last October.
It was a lazy morning sipping coffee and then off to the 11:30am service at church.  The faithful were out in droves and it was hard to find a seat.  The …

Dear God,
The day has been blessed with a visit from Blanche.  Good friends are one of Your greatest blessings and, I have missed my friend, Blanche.  As You will recall, we had some trouble May 2008 and that was her last visit until today.
For a very long time, I thought our falling out was due to a political disagreement on Obama but when Blanche and I started talking again I discovered that it was the way I had behaved and the way I had spoken to her that upset our …

Dear God,
Today is the give up day.  It has been a very long day.  Five hours of driving with puppies restless all the way topped off with a Doctor’s appointment dealing with HRT – HRT that’s NOT working.  Enough said!
So, at the end of this long, exhausting day, I am re-reading the morning’s devotions in order to reflect on my day and consider where I am on day 3 of Lent.  I am at the giving up place.  Dr. Seuss writes about the “waiting place,” but I am much more …

Dear God,
Day 2 of the Lenten season.  My daily readings include, Lent & Easter – Wisdom from Thomas Merton, Bread & Wine – Readings for Lent and Easter (multiple authors), and “The Lenten Pharmacy – Daily Healing Therapies,” by Edward Hays.  I try to discern a nugget from each reading and hope I’ll remember to apply something from the readings to my day.
Merton’s writing from Seasons of Celebration speaks to, “the acceptance of one’s actual condition.”  This is something that strikes a deep chord within me and a nugget that …

Dear God,
It is 8:45pm, Ash Wednesday.  The day has been long.  I am exhausted.  After all, I was up at 4am!  I do love Your sense of humor though.  I remember my last prayer of the night being “help me,” because I was worried about oversleeping and missing the 7am church service.  So, You used the puppies to wake me – earlier than I thought I needed but did my Lenten devotions and meditation and got to the church on time!
I have felt so grateful all day because I see …