86.
PRAYER FOR PERSONAL GROWTH
God
what makes it so difficult to get rid of things I don't like about myself?
I can't stop smoking or maybe its drinking or pills or
overeating. My short temper really bothers me but I can't seem to change
it. I keep thinking that underneath all the self indulgency, sloth and
meanness there's a person I'd really like to be that others would
like too. What keeps me from becoming that person? Father, help me to know
myself what I am and can become. Enable me to see the good in myself
and rejoice in it to see flaws and change them. Teach me to live with
myself, to accept myself mindful that becoming what You want me to be is
more like cultivating a garden than chopping down a forest.
87.
FOR NEIGHBORS
Help
me to understand the answer Jesus gave to the question: "Who is my
neighbor?" About a man on a road who needed help about those who
refused it and the one person who gave it. Make me more sensitive to the
feelings of those I meet at home, in a store, on a bus, in a crowd More
aware that whether I know them or not the nameless, the angry, the
anguished all people, everywhere are my neighbors in You. No one is really
a stranger unless I choose to mace him so.
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88.
PRAYER TO LIVE IN THE PRESENT
God
I spend so much time reliving yesterday or anticipating tomorrow that I
lose sight of the only time that is really mine the
present. Remind me that the past with its successes and
failures is over. I can make amends where I have hurt others
or let them down But I can't undo what has been done. The future is yet to
be and eagerness or apprehension will not hasten it or postpone it. You
give me today, one minute at a time. That's all I have all I ever will.
Give me the faith that knows that each moment contains exactly what is
best for me. Give me the hope that trusts You enough to forget past sins
and future trials. Give me the love that makes each minute of life an
anticipation of eternity with You.
89.
PRAYER FOR OPENNESS
Lord
help me to see the plight of those around me the conditions in which my
brothers live. Lord help me to hear the cry of the anguished the whisper
of the hopeless the plea of the forgotten. Lord help me recognize the
stench of poverty the odor of illness the air of loneliness Lord help me
to realize why some people have no taste for life no palate for living.
Lord help me to reach out and touch these my brothers with humility,
reverence and love.
90.
FOR THE LONELY
It's
awful to be lonely, Lord. Sometimes when I'm in a crowded room surrounded
by people who love me I still feel lonely. I'll bet the world is full of
lonely people sitting on park benches and bar stools in movie theaters and
at cocktail parties. My next door neighbor has never knocked on my door.
Why is that, Lord? Help your lonely, Lord to reach out of themselves. If
only we weren't so afraid of being hurt in the process... We'd really like
to become more aware of and responsive to one another. Grant us strength
to take the risk involved... The hurt can't be worse than this lonely
feeling Help us, Lord to overcome our loneliness by becoming one with each
other and one with You.
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