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ncjohn
Guest
I would not usually post an entire meditation from outside but because of the way the links to this site work, I believe that it just links to the meditation for the day and that it would not go to what I’m referencing after today. This comes from the Word Among Us for November 3.
My heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. It’s true, Lord, that sometimes I am arrogant. Self-importance, contempt, even disdain for others do leak out of me now and then. But my hope is in you. I want to be the person you always intended me to be—even before I was born.
**That person is awesome, Father, because your image shines through so thoroughly. Free me to become that person. Free me from the pride that thinks it isn’t good enough, and forgive me for trying to be anyone other than what you intend. Remind me of the gifts you’ve given me, and show me how to begin to use them in a way that pleases you. **
I do not busy myself with … things too sublime for me. Father, I want to leave the high and marvelous things to you. I will content myself with peace instead. Lead me in your peace, free from the discontent of striving and the torment of thinking that I must know more, understand more, seek more, and do more just to please you. I will be happy to receive what you offer me in prayer, in Scripture, and in your church. It’s enough to know the gift of your peace, to smile at the good that you are.
I have stilled my soul. Who I am is good enough! Father, I trust your Holy Spirit to show me what needs to change and what doesn’t. For the rest, I want to be content with who I am, how you have made me, and where you have put me. I want only to sit in your embrace—secure, safe, trusting in your protection. It is enough to be at ease in your presence, like a child nestled on its mother’s lap, resting in the assurance of your unfailing, perfect love.
God, I know that you will tell me what you think about me. I know that you will tell me how much you love me. I trust you. I believe that you will speak to my heart—and so I will be quiet right now and listen for your voice. Stir up in me the desires you placed in me from the beginning. Stir up in me, too, a greater desire to become the person you created me to be.
“Free me from the pride that thinks it isn’t good enough, and forgive me for trying to be anyone other than what you intend.”
How often I just look at who I am and feel like a failure compared to those I see around me. How often I feel like I could accomplish something for God if I just had someone else’s gifts.
One of my favorite posters here has reminded me on more than one occasion that I am exactly who God made me to be. That if I became another Francis of Assisi He wouldn’t have His beloved John. And I blush every time I hear that as it is so hard to accept that my measly efforts amount to anything. But the truth is that if I use the gifts I’ve been given the way God intends for me to use them, I will accomplish what He sent me to accomplish. What else could I, or should I, ask?
Somehow I just have to keep on working to trust that “who I am is good enough!”
Peace,
My heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. It’s true, Lord, that sometimes I am arrogant. Self-importance, contempt, even disdain for others do leak out of me now and then. But my hope is in you. I want to be the person you always intended me to be—even before I was born.
**That person is awesome, Father, because your image shines through so thoroughly. Free me to become that person. Free me from the pride that thinks it isn’t good enough, and forgive me for trying to be anyone other than what you intend. Remind me of the gifts you’ve given me, and show me how to begin to use them in a way that pleases you. **
I do not busy myself with … things too sublime for me. Father, I want to leave the high and marvelous things to you. I will content myself with peace instead. Lead me in your peace, free from the discontent of striving and the torment of thinking that I must know more, understand more, seek more, and do more just to please you. I will be happy to receive what you offer me in prayer, in Scripture, and in your church. It’s enough to know the gift of your peace, to smile at the good that you are.
I have stilled my soul. Who I am is good enough! Father, I trust your Holy Spirit to show me what needs to change and what doesn’t. For the rest, I want to be content with who I am, how you have made me, and where you have put me. I want only to sit in your embrace—secure, safe, trusting in your protection. It is enough to be at ease in your presence, like a child nestled on its mother’s lap, resting in the assurance of your unfailing, perfect love.
God, I know that you will tell me what you think about me. I know that you will tell me how much you love me. I trust you. I believe that you will speak to my heart—and so I will be quiet right now and listen for your voice. Stir up in me the desires you placed in me from the beginning. Stir up in me, too, a greater desire to become the person you created me to be.
“Free me from the pride that thinks it isn’t good enough, and forgive me for trying to be anyone other than what you intend.”
How often I just look at who I am and feel like a failure compared to those I see around me. How often I feel like I could accomplish something for God if I just had someone else’s gifts.
One of my favorite posters here has reminded me on more than one occasion that I am exactly who God made me to be. That if I became another Francis of Assisi He wouldn’t have His beloved John. And I blush every time I hear that as it is so hard to accept that my measly efforts amount to anything. But the truth is that if I use the gifts I’ve been given the way God intends for me to use them, I will accomplish what He sent me to accomplish. What else could I, or should I, ask?
Somehow I just have to keep on working to trust that “who I am is good enough!”
Peace,
