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Category Archives: Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

Collect for Mass of the Day – March 20, 2025

20 Mar 
Oh God, who delight in 
  Innocence and restore it
Direct the hearts of your
  Servants to yourself.

Collect for Mass of the Day - March 20, 2025

Dear God, Sister Miriam’s commentary today was about our pain and considering its source (Satan) as we learn to bring it to you. Honestly, I think I’ve done this through the years, and while there is still some sorrow over some of my pain, I think the pain has largely been dealt with. However, there are some people I love who are still in great pain, and I do want this healing for them.

I have this habit for two people who are really special to me of seeing a car like the one they drive and using that as an opportunity to pray for them. This week, it happened twice, once for each of them, that I just stopped and prayed for their healing. For their health. For their joy and happiness regardless of what it costs me.

Father, I am walking into a situation today that might be challenging. It has great potential to be challenging. Give me wisdom, shrewdness, love, grace, and complete unselfishness. Help me to love my neighbors as precious souls in your sight. Help me to be an instrument of your peace. If there is a need for me to share the Gospel, please help me to share your Gospel. But if I do it, I want to carefully do it well. Help me to do everything today under the complete direction of the Holly Spirit.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 20, 2025 in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 38

19 Mar

Psalm 38

A Penitent Sufferer’s Plea for Healing

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your wrath.
2 For your arrows have sunk into me,
    and your hand has come down on me.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh
    because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
    because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
    they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.

5 My wounds grow foul and fester
    because of my foolishness;
6 I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
    all day long I go around mourning.
7 For my loins are filled with burning,
    and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am utterly spent and crushed;
    I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

9 O Lord, all my longing is known to you;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
10 My heart throbs; my strength fails me;
    as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
11 My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,
    and my neighbors stand far off.

12 Those who seek my life lay their snares;
    those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin
    and meditate on treachery all day long.

13 But I am like the deaf; I do not hear;
    like the mute, who cannot speak.
14 Truly, I am like one who does not hear
    and in whose mouth is no retort.

15 But it is for you, O Lord, that I wait;
    it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
16 For I pray, “Only do not let them rejoice over me,
    those who boast against me when my foot slips.”

17 For I am ready to fall,
    and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
    I am sorry for my sin.
19 Those who are my foes without cause are mighty,
    and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 Those who render me evil for good
    are my adversaries because I follow after good.

21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
    O my God, do not be far from me;
22 make haste to help me,
    O Lord, my salvation.

Dear God, context is so important. Just knowing that this was written by David and then provided to the people to be used for a specific purpose–the memorial offering–sets the stage for the words here. I’d guess David wrote this for others to use to repent, but it also came out of his own heart and experience. Maybe or maybe not the experience of that moment, but a past experience at the very least.

For my purposes today, Sister Miriam, in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation focused on the last two verses, 21 and 22. Here is part of what she says about pain from our past impacting our present (the one point in time when we have the opportunity to interact with you): “there is a wonderful saying in healing circles that I find to be true: ‘Suffering that is not transformed is transmitted.’ Every experience of suffering we have had that has not yet been redeemed and transformed by the love of Christ is transmitted to those around us. The suffering we have experienced does not just disappear; it is most often buried alive. And that pain buried alive continues to afflict us and those around us.”

Yeah. I can definitely see this. Earlier in today’s meditation, she asks where we have “experienced war being waged against [us].” I can think of a few times in my life that were disastrous. Some were because of my sin. Some were because of sin done to me or to someone I love. What was my response to those things? Did I invite you in to heal me? Did I confess my sin to you?

Father, thank you for not forsaking me. Thank you for not being far from me. Thank you for helping me. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for healing me. Thank you for meeting with me here this morning. Thank you for accepting my presence–my very existence–and giving me your Holy Spirit to reside in me and guide me. thank you for protecting me in ways I cannot even see. Thank you for loving my wife and children. For hearing my prayers for them and everyone else I love. I know I have put you into too small of a box in my mind. I know I have limited you and your power in my conceptions of who you are. No matter how big I might think you are, I know you are even bigger. I just cannot imagine it. So give me the imagination you need me to have to pray the way you want me to pray.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 19, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 13

18 Mar

Psalm 13

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul
    and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
    my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 13

Dear God, Sister Miriam, in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation focused on verse 3b and verse 4a for her meditation today, but what strikes me about this short psalm by David is the last stanza. It seems he’s desperate and everything is going wrong, and yet in that midst he comes to his senses and reminds himself that he is yours no matter what. It’s quite beautiful.

I don’t know that this ties in anywhere, but I want to say it out loud because it struck me this morning and I don’t want to lose it. I was listening to the Voxology Podcast and their interview with Nijay Gupta. They were talking about the fallacy of Old Testament = Law and New Testament = Grace, saying that our modern day Christianity sometimes sets up the Old Testament as the bad guy and the New Testament as the good guy. They didn’t think Jesus would feel that way. But then they said something funny, but there was truth to it. They were joking about people complaining about accepting sin and enabling bad behavior, and they said, “Was God enabling bad behavior by sending Jesus?” It was funny, but it was a good question in some ways. Where does adherence to the law come into my faith walk when it is compared with grace? The first thing I thought of were Jesus’s words, “17Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” So that’s enough of that little rabbit trail. I just didn’t want to lose that though from this morning: Was God enabling bad behavior by sending Jesus?

Back to this psalm, I want to zero in on Sister Miriam’s focus and the phrase, “Give light to my eyes.” David want a poker face for his enemies to see. He doesn’t want them to feel the emotional victory they are currently getting over him. But that light needs to come from you. It needs to come from hope in you. Faith in you. It’s not a lie he is seeking to give to his enemies. He wants to show them what faith in you looks like no matter what.

Here is what Sister Miriam said as she quoted a priest she knows: “First, our wounds are not arbitrary, they are not random. Satan is like a sniper. He intuits with his angelic intellect the destiny of every human person and he shoots his deadly arrows into the place that will do the most damage in order to thwart the flourishing of the person and God’s plan for their life. Satan succeeds when he can convince us to hate God, hate ourselves, and hate others for the wounds we bear. Second, in God’s mysterious and divine sovereignty, God allows Satan this access only to make the wounded places even more life-giving, beautiful, and glorious than they ever would have been otherwise, if we allow the restoration of these places.”

Father, I want to show those around me what faith in you looks like, no matter what. I love you. I worship you. I want to show them what a faith-filled life looks like so that they might want you as well. So they might be drawn to you, worship you, love you, and then find the fruits of your Holy Spirit growing within them. For all of us who have wounds, and I’m thinking of a couple of people in particular right how, heal their wounds and use them to grow great fruit. Oh, Father, use me to love them and others around me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 18, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Collect for Mass of the Day – March 17, 2025

17 Mar

O God, who have taught us to chasten our bodies for the healing of our souls, enable us, we pray, to abstain from all sins, and strengthen our hearts to carry out your loving commands.

Collect for the Mass of the Day – March 17, 2025

Dear God, when I read this passage this morning I thought of the Serenity Prayer from AA: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” In the case of the Collect, it is talking about disciplining ourselves under your “loving commands” so that our souls can be healed and our hearts strengthened. And I know this is true. When I am able to discipline myself to avoid sin and pursue you, the peace that passes understanding almost always follows. But when I allow sin and the shame that comes with it to enter into the picture it is hard.

I talked to someone a few years ago who tried another approach. He rejected you because he saw you as the rule maker and, therefore, the source of his guilt. If he got rid of you then he was able to get rid of the guilt he felt. I don’t know how or if that is still working for him, but it’s something that has always stuck with me as a unique solution to the problem of guilt. I pray for him this morning that he might be at peace and find that peace in you.

Sister Miriam kind of describes this guilt/peace situation in part of her commentary in today’s entry from Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation when she says, “We see this in Genesis with Adam and Eve, before and after the Fall and the entrance of original sin. Before the rupture of sin, Adam and Eve experienced wholeness, communion, and integration of themselves with God, within themselves, with each other, and with creation. After the rupture of sin, this turning away from love, they experienced the disintegration of every aspect of their being.”

Father, I want to be fully integrated with you. Help me to be that today. Help me to “abstain from all sins,” and “carry about your loving commands” so that my soul might be healed and my heart strengthened in your service.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 17, 2025 in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Mark 9:1-6

16 Mar

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Mark 9:1-6

Dear God, it’s Transfiguration Sunday in the Catholic church, so it makes sense that Sister Miriam would have chosen this passage for today’s verse in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation. However, she only did the first sentence of verse 5, and I am drawn to verse 6. In it, Peter confesses through Mark that he had no idea what he was saying or doing because he was so scared. It’s a little like me when I describe myself looking like an idiot. “This is what I said, but I had no idea what I was saying.” For me, the reminder here is to just allow myself to be in the moment. Don’t try to take control of it. Don’t try to make more or less of it than it is. Just be in the moment and let the Holy Spirit drive my response.

But going back to Sister Miriam’s sentence for the day, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here,” it is a reminder that this is an important story for us to know. I don’t know if or how many other times Jesus met with Moses and Elijah (or others) during his earthly journey. He got away to pray by himself a lot, including the 40 days in the wilderness and several other examples. But at least one of them was captured for posterity. So that there were witnesses to your true deity as represented in the flesh in Jesus, all man and all God. It’s so awesome to consider. And I’m sure Peter, James, and John remembered this event even at the end of their lives.

Father, it is good that I am here this morning. And I am in the midst of a local tragedy, and I do not know how to respond. There is a 9,000-acre fire near my home, and while I am not personally threatened, many I know are in some way or another. Some are without power from downed power lines. Some need to evacuate from their homes. Some who I don’t know have already lost their home, livestock, barns, etc. So in this moment, as I consider my response, it is good that I am here. To pray. To not freak out and get in the way of others who have a job to do, but to seek to support in any way that I can. I worship you, Father. I pray for rain. I pray for a change in the weather to reduce the wind. I pray for your supernatural hand to move and protect the firefighters, the homeowners, and the livestock. I pray that you will not let this pain be wasted, but make it count for your glory and to draw all of us, including me, closer to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 16, 2025 in Mark, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 119:1-8

15 Mar

Psalm 119

The Glories of God’s Law

1 Happy are those whose way is blameless,
    who walk in the law of the Lord.
2 Happy are those who keep his decrees,
    who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong
    but walk in his ways.
4 You have commanded your precepts
    to be kept diligently.
5 O that my ways may be steadfast
    in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
    having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
    when I learn your righteous ordinances.
8 I will observe your statutes;
    do not utterly forsake me.

Dear God, verse 2 is the focus for Sister Miriam this morning from Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation.

2 Happy are those who keep his decrees,
    who seek him with their whole heart

When I read all of these verses together, it brought to mind a video I saw this week. A coworker’s one-year-old granddaughter was caught on video by her mother playing with a roll of toilet paper. Sitting on the floor next to the spindle on the wall and unrolling it. Playing with it. When the mom is heard on the video coming around the corner and saying, “Well, hello there,” the toddler baby turns and instantly starts crying–wailing really. It was so funny to watch this child either 1. experience instant guilt which means there was a knowledge of their bad behavior all along or 2. throw out the wailing and tears instantly in an effort to manipulate and mitigate her mother’s anger.

Whatever the reason for this child’s wailing, every person who watched that video could instantly relate to what was going on. We’ve all been there, going all the way back to Adam and Eve. Ohhh, that apple looks so good (whatever the “apple” might represent for me). And I’ve had those times when I’ve walked around with the guilt of known sin. I’ve hoped I can hide it and no one will discover it. I’ve even foolishly tried to hide it from you by not acknowledging it and pretending like it didn’t happen. Or by telling myself that it’s not a big deal and you don’t care. Or by telling myself I’m in for a penny so I might as well be in for a pound.

As we know, all of that puts a barrier up between us and everything around us. It puts up a barrier between me and you as well as me and others around me. There’s a part of me I cannot let them know. And if they know it and feel betrayed in any way, it puts something between us in that way too. It takes away transparency.

Quoting Sister Miriam for today: “A house may look lovely on the exterior, but if the foundation is flawed, the house will develop acute problems. We see this in our own lives: The Lord spends much time healing and restoring the roots of our lives. This happens little by little over time. Yes, we experience deep shifts and major breakthroughs within that are seismic and felt and lasting. And we also have tiny reverberations of the tender work of the Artist who knows exactly what he is creating.”

Father, of course, the easiest and best thing to do is to keep your testimony and seek you with my whole heart. It is to be blameless, do no wrong, and walk in your way. Oh that my ways will be steadfast in keeping your laws. But I know I have failed you. I know I will fail you. I am sorry. I bring the sin I’m aware of to you in this moment. I am sorry, Father. I am sorry, Jesus. I am sorry, Holy Spirit. Thank you for everything you have done, are doing, and will do for me as my Triune God. I know your ways are best for me. They lead me to life. Thank you for not utterly forsaking me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Ezekiel 18:23

14 Mar

23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live? 

Ezekiel 18:23

Dear God, I think I am going to try something different today when I use the passage from Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation by Sr. Miriam James Heidland. Instead of looking at the passage and praying on it, I’m going to start with reading what she has to say about it.

I really like her first paragraph:

As Adam and Eve are shattered in the garden by their decision to listen to the enemy and not to rely upon the truth of who God is, so are we. We hold God in suspicion, we blame him, we try to create our own reality apart from him, and we fear being seen by him. We fear being seen by the only one who can actually do anything to heal us.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times now the video I saw of Dustin Hoffman quoting Robert De Niro on what he would say to you if he were to meet you on the other side of this life. According to Hoffman, De Niro’s quote was, “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” First, I doubt he would have the courage to say that if presented with your presence. No way. But just the thought of that animosity towards you goes back to this in some way. I mean, I understand being upset with you and how you do things. I understand legitimate awful things going on in the world that upset us and lead us to ask why you would allow such a thing (e.g., war, human trafficking, hunger, etc.). I’ve been disappointed with you in the past. But what would I have you do? What would we have you do differently? Where would the mighty hand of your justice end? Could any of us justify our survival?

Father, her is Sr. Miriam’s last paragraph. I offer it to you as my prayer:

When we spend time with God in prayer listening, receiving, speaking, pondering, and responding, our lives are changed. As we drink deeply from the scriptures and let this living Word settle into the marrow of our souls, the poison of sin and lies is drawn out. As we meditate and contemplate upon who God is and engage in conversation with him, our stony hearts are softened and made new. As we confess our sin and weaknesses and ask for his heart to meet us in our misery, new light dawns.

So draw out the poison of sin and lies in my heart. Meet me in my misery. Bring a new light into my life today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 14, 2025 in Ezekiel, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 51

13 Mar

Psalm 51

Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon

To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
    blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
    and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
    a sinner when my mother conceived me.

6 You desire truth in the inward being;
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
    if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    rebuild the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Dear God, as I think of David’s state of mine while he wrote this poem, this psalm after Nathan’s confrontation, I think of the devastation he felt. How unique it is to get this kind of a view of the heart of a man when he is confronted with his grievous sin: murder, adultery, rape?, lies, secrets, manipulation, corrupting others (Joab, messengers, etc.). And not only did David write this down before you, but he shared it. The part of the poem that says, “13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you,” really touches me because this is him saying that he and his pride are at your mercy. If it takes humiliating himself to achieve your forgiveness, he’ll do it. He didn’t want this pain to be wasted. He knew it was too late to rectify what he had done to Uriah, Bathsheba, Joab, the messengers, and even Nathan. They were forever damaged. He could apologize privately, but to do this publicly and show his remorse publicly like this was a huge step.

The downside is that there was no stopping him losing the moral high ground with his children. When his eldest son Amnon rapes his daughter, Tamar, David has nothing to say. When Absalom kills Amnon in revenge, David has nothing to do but exile Absalom. Then Solomon grew up knowing how David treated his mother and her first husband before he was born, and that likely impacted his view of women. The repentance was good, but there was still unfixable damage.

Sister Miriam in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation focused on verses 10 and 12 today. It’s interesting because she takes those and then focuses on how your covenant with us is unbreakable by you. And that’s all good and well. And I’m grateful that you love me through Jesus life, death, blood, and resurrection. Without that, I’m not sure what my life would even be about. Why I would even be here. Without my relationship with you, I would have no reason to do anything for anyone else. Why love my neighbor when that is a waste of the years I have here on earth. Without you, then my life should be all about me and my happiness.

Father, oh how grateful I am that I do have you! Being part of you and having you in me makes it okay that I’m so small. It makes it good to give others around me as much love as I can. “I love you, Lord. And I lift my voice to worship you. Oh, my soul, rejoice! Take joy my King in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.” (Shout out Laurie Klein for her song.)

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 13, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Joel 2:12-13

12 Mar

12 Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
    and relenting from punishment.

Joel 2:12-13

Dear God, this is the passage from Sister Miriam in Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation. I don’t know that much about Joel as a prophet or as a book, so I went back to read the introduction in my NIV Study Bible from the 1980s. When describing the overall message of the book, the NIV Study Bible says at the end, “…he describes the day as one of punishment for unfaithful Israel as well. Restoration and blessing will come only after judgment and repentance.”

Oh, God, can I skip the judgment and just go to repentance? Does judgment have to come first? Coincidentally, I was talking with my wife yesterday about standing before you at judgment day. What will you say? How horrifying will it be to stand before you, even with Jesus’s blood covering me to atone for my sins? Will you make an account of my sins, or will you give me a pass? What will that look like?

Then there is our country now. I’ve talked about my conversations with friends about our country and how things are currently going. I have no idea what to make of what is happening at a national level. I know there are plans. I know they are being executed. Will the ultimate results of them be good, bad, or just kicking the can down the road one more election cycle? Will they give the Christian church that has thrown its weight behind the current administration the power it craves and finish off its corruption, thereby causing its collapse and leaving those faithful to you as a remnant? Will the church and the country have to take three steps back in order to start moving forward again?

This all plays into Joel’s call to return to you. All of us start to create idols. Idols of power. Idols of money and what we think is security. Idols of our spouses and our children. I could go on and on. And you will allow our idols to fail. You will allow pain. You will allow us to wander away so that we might come to the end of ourselves. What kind of judgment from you will be waiting for me at the end of my rope? Will it be as Joel describes here, or will it be more like the Prodigal Father who waits for his son to come home after he’s learned how much he needs his father.

Father, my God, I love you and I am grateful for you. Forgive me of my sins as I forgive those who sin against me. Lead me away from temptation. Deliver me from evil. Give me my daily bread–no more and no less. You are the one and only glorious God. Once again, I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 12, 2025 in Joel, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Psalm 90:1-4

11 Mar

Psalm 90:1-4

God’s Eternity and Human Frailty

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn us back to dust
    and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are like yesterday when it is past
    or like a watch in the night.

Dear God, I have had so many reminders during this Lenten series, but the big one is the one I always seem to need. You are so big. More than I can even imagine. More than I can even imagine imagining. And I am so small. Smaller than I can imagine imagining.

I have a relative whose health is failing. He may die fairly soon. While his life is as small as mine, is soul is as precious as the finest things in the universe to you, and therefore to me. It’s hard to know how to reach out to him or to those relatives I have who are closer to him than I am. Help me to know how to do that.

My wife and I were talking this morning about a couple we know who are in the throws of busyness with their children, careers, and even building a house. It sounded completely overwhelming. And yet to remember that their lives are so small, but their souls are so precious.

I guess that’s the reality I’ve been sitting with the last few months. As I’ve seen larges people groups suffer. People die by the tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Lives are so small, but each soul is so precious to you and to those who know them.

In Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam focuses in on your trustworthiness from Psalm 90:1 when it says, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” You are trustworthy, although I would say that many would say you are not. It kind of goes back to what I said I heard Dustin Hoffman say when asked what he would ask you were there to be a heaven. He quoted Robert De Niro and said you’d have a lot of explaining to do. They don’t see you as a dwelling place, trustworthy for protection. They have listened to Satan in the garden when he says, “Would an all-loving God really allow you to suffer at all?” But they’ve missed the point, in my mind. In my way of thinking, we are once again seeing our lives as so big, but I think our lives are so small. It is just our souls that are precious to you.

Father, I could be wrong about all of this. I’m not promoting anything I’m saying as accurate or even theologically sound. It’s just how I’m thinking about it this morning. If I’m wrong, show me where I am wrong. If I’m right, show me how to use this knowledge to love others and show them how precious they are to you. You are the great God. You are precious to me. Thank you for making my soul precious to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 11, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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