Dear God, as I sat down this Christmas Eve morning to enter this time with you, I struggled with what scriptures to use as my base. Then I started thinking about friends who are struggling right now. I have a friend who just lost her mother-in-law a month ago (I found out yesterday). It was difficult. The family relationships with the woman who died were complicated. There is pain this morning. Maybe even some regrets on the parts of some. It can all be so confusing and overwhelming. I ask that you please be with this friend, her husband who lost his mother, his sister, the grandchildren, and anyone else affected by this loss. Father, in your mercy, hear my prayer.
I have another friend who texted me yesterday about her mother being taken by helicopter to a hospital because of a stroke. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I know that relationships with this woman are similarly complicated as the ones with the woman I just talked about. There has been a lot of pain and hurt between people. No one is innocent. No one is completely guilty. It’s just the pain we cause each other when we are hurt. The old saying: “Hurt people hurt people.” And some awful things have happened. But our human love and sense of loyalty that you put into us–that is part of your nature–is still there drawing us to each other. So I ask that you make this pain count. Don’t let it be wasted. For the woman who is sick, do exactly what you need to be doing in her life. Love her. I know she worships you although I’m not sure she knows what discipleship looks like. But I think there is mercy for that. Heal her relationships with her children, grandchildren, and everyone else around her. Use this pain as an opportunity to heal relationships, draw each person into a deeper relationship with you, and make this family a beacon of light that draws others around them into your presence and relationship with you as well. Father, in your mercy, hear my prayer.
I have a list of friends who are facing challenges. Health challenges. Relationship challenges. End-of-life challenges. Loss of a loved one. Long-term care challenges for their aging spouses or themselves as they age. I know people who are struggling financially. Struggling in their careers. Struggling to make sense of life. Use these, please. Heal. Guide. Provide. Comfort. Strengthen. Support. Father, in your mercy, hear my prayer.
Of course, I have my own pain, sorrow, concerns, needs, etc. For my wife. For my children. For my relatives, friends, work, community service, etc. It can all seem so big, and I can feel so small. Maybe that’s where these two songs are coming in this morning. Confusion with your plan or what to do next isn’t anything new. Sorrow, pain, and hurt aren’t new. Doubt. Fear. Anxiety. They have all existed for a long time. And Mary and Joseph were no strangers to them. Two thousand-ish years ago, they were sitting next to a manger with a tiny baby wondering how this would all work out. And while you sent them affirmations in the form of angel visits, shepherds, and later Simeon and Anna, they were still left to take it all one step at a time. That’s us now. That will be us for as long as this timeline marches on. Wars and rumors of war. The sorrow, pain, hurt, doubt, fear, and anxiety. They will always be with us. But there is something you uniquely add to the equation. Hope. Peace. Somehow, you pierce through the darkness and give us a hope that there is something bigger than all of this. An existence with you that transcends the mess we create here. Help me to embrace this process now. I don’t want to kick against the goads. I just want to flow through this river with you as my guide. Steer me around the rocks so that the boat of my life might be there for the other boats in the water. Thank you for being the one constant. Thank you for being the same God in the Old Testament as the one that Jesus described in the Prodigal Son parable. Thank you for being that God today.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 