Morning Glory and Evening Grace: A Year of Daily Prayers for Growth and Hope

MORNING GLORY AND EVENINGGRACE

A YEAR OF DAILY PRAYERS FOR GROWTH AND HOPE

WALTER COLEMAN

AuthorHouse™

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© 2012 by Walter Coleman. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/27/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6540-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6539-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-6538-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012916104

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Table of Contents

Dedication

Introduction

January

Unfolding Days

What Shall We Become?

A Five Fold Blessing

Consecrated Gifts

No Jealousy or Envy

The More Monster

Tsunami

Always There

Deadly Privatizing

Of Time and History

Quality Listening

Strengthening Our Resolve

Our Place – Your Plan

Thresholds

Deeper Ever Deeper

Attributes of God

Intentional Changes

Answering Questions

Praise Times Twelve

Closeness Brings Expansion

Unfinished Business – Forgiveness

Learning Not Lording

Positive Influence

Reflective Living

Liberating Freedoms

Honoring the Journey

Invitation to Prayer

The Yoke of Discipline

Ambassadors of Reclamation

Words That Connect

Lead Us On

Beyond Human Cleverness

I’ll Pray for You

February

True Love

Patience

Costly Choices

Come In From the Cold

When a Little Is a Lot

Guidance

Hymns of Praise

Slow Down

Knowing the True God

Opening Our Hearts

Real Honest-to-Goodness Love

God of Love

Holding Fast to God

Cleaning Our Hearts

Questioning Inequities

Door of Life

Ordinary Things

Taking Up Our Crosses

Scraps

Never Ordinary

Spiritual Clothing

Good and Perfect Gifts

In Our Most Difficult Times

What We Are Becoming

Transforming Drudgery

Gray Days

Unfolding Life

Holy Spirit Guidance

Led by the Good Shepherd

An Extra Day

March

Dreams

Extravagant Gifts

Tenacity

Serving One Another

Valuable Values

Sacrifice Out of Love

Misgivings

Away from Sleepwalking

Going Deeper to Rise

God’s Call

Interrupted Prayer

Dirty Feet People Need Washing

Strive Toward the High Calling

Dark Nights – Joyful Dawns

Simple Things

Honor

Mighty Hand

New Beginnings

No Quick Fix

Springtime Rejoicing

God of Mystery

The Heart of Easter

Loving Servant Leadership

Good Friday

Generosity

Spiritually Clothed

Foolish-Wise Ways

Inviting God In

March Madness

Openness

The Spirit of Spring

April

A Fool for Your Sake

Open to Receive Gifts

Pursued Relentlessly

Closing the Gap

Freedom

Living – Not Divided

Our Heritage

Grumbling and Complaining

Extending Love

The Gift of Change

Maturing

Real Values

Bodies Broken and Whole

Reconciling Love

Mystery and Majesty

Earnest Prayer

Fruits – Ripe and Full

Community Strength

Ancient Truths – Present Help

Childlikeness

Shining Light

Light Saving Time

Goodness

Ingesting God’s Word

Taking, Blessing, Breaking,

and Sharing

Steady As You Go

Full Access

Resurrected Life

Remembering Highs and Lows

Compassionate Friend and Healer

May

Pattern for Living

The Ways of Love

Face to Face Proclamation

Healing the Nation

Collaborating with God

Enlightened Minds

The Gift of Families

One Path, Different Places

Thankful for Your Mercy

Excuses

Guidance Through the Journey

A Magnificent Challenge

Infectious Light

Hide and Seek

Closing Our Eyes

Relearning the Lessons

Enough for Every Good Work

Open Eyes and Ears

Accepting Our Gifts

Transforming Fire

Giving Up Our Wish List

Spirit Led Step by Step

Hope From Within

Spring Witness

Collective Prayer

Honest to God

Questioning Our Answers

Prayers from the Edge

Deadly Dangerous Warfare

To God Our Midwife

Extravagance Unlimited

June

Abandoning Neglect

Hasten, O Lord, Help Us

Wisdom of the World vs. Gospel

An Honest Estimation

We Thank You

The True Vine

The Winds of Change

Growing and Stretching

Comfort and Challenge

Burning Bushes and Holy Ground

Surrendering All

Believing Stops Bleeding

Roots and Wings

Good News and Hope

Meekness

Mourning

Gratitude for Healing

Serving Others and You

Where Are You?

Loving More

Hypocritical

Steadfast Love and Faithfulness

Refocusing the Issues

Blahs

Remembering Lessons

Passion

Faith

Now

The Wonder of Emotions

Slowly Unfolding

July

Self-Emptying

Healing Liberty and Justice

Reminder to Love

Lifted Up in Prayer

A Call to Pilgrimage

Rock, Still Point, and North Star

Summer Season

Resist Running

God’s Written Living Word

Pruning

Holy Renewal Zone

Stopping the Slide

Unless

Sabbath Rest

Cultivating Abundant

Life and Wholeness

Forgetting

Divine Fire

Listening to Summer

Full Force of Praise

The Fruit of Love

The Fruit of Joy

Simple Powerful Words

If I Were You

Searing Heat

Holy Power

Holy Misdirection

Listening and Hearing

We Pause

Symphony of Service

TGIF

Procrastination

August

The Fruit of Peace

The Fruit of Gentleness

The Fruit of Goodness

The Fruit of Patience

The Fruit of Self-Control

False Self to True Self

Soft Places of Renewal

The Sense of Hearing

Dawn

Of You

Praise

Sound Finances

Live by Faith

Holy Motivation

Blessing Of Children

Inside Out

A Dot of Weight and Significance

Breaking Open

Living Word Guiding Our Words

Alabaster Jars of Generosity

A Clarion Call

Connected and Engaged

Me-ism

Risks

Wholehearted Service

Namaste

Freely Giving Kindness

Subtraction and Addition

Free Flowing Fountains

Spur of the Moment Praise

Make Us Hollow

September

Longing

Wind Blown People

Balance

Dreams

Active Life

Unmasking

Attend to What We Have

Struggle

Improvements

Ache-Of-Not-Enough

Disciplines

Storm Relief

Love with Sleeves Rolled Up

Connections

Another Way

Deeds and Words Together

A Caring Embrace

Subject Not Object

Charmed Circle of Grace

A Gentle Invitation

Nevertheless

Say So

Full Attention Listening

Stewards All

Rejoicing

Delight Busters

Your Word

Enough

Glory

Turning from Madness

October

Transforming the Routine

Unanswered

Music to God’s Ears

Intercession

Unplugged

Gifts that Keep on Giving

Heart Centered Leader

Quantum Change

Peace

Autumn

All God’s Children

God’s Sure Voice

Not-yet-ness

Falling Leaves – So Much More

Focus

Autumn Transitions

Incredible Journey

Binding Up Wounds

Strong Advocates

Living Sacrifices

Gratitude

Being Held

Blowing in the Wind

Until

Inertia to Ignition

Reconciliation

Imperfect Utterances

Serving One Another

Protecting Children

Reminders

Cloud of Witnesses

November

Striving Ever Striving

Inklings

Retreat

Passion for the Possible

Yes!

After the Election

Furthermore

Beneath the Surface

Passion Burned Out

Loving Our Neighbors

Behold the Birds

Following the Signs

Fruit Bearing Followers

Seeing the Openings

Ask

The Advocate Inside

Answers for Three Deadly P’s

Full Circle Awareness

A Season for Gratitude

Hallowthankmas

Of Rocks, Nails, and Feathers

Ever Advancing

Integrating the Opposites

Expressing Our Lives

Sacred Circumstances

Becoming Liquid

Winning Relationships

Routines for Grace and Growth

Inner Homes Holiday Prepared

Simple Things

December

Surprise – Your Coming

Living the Story

Peace Within

The Gift of Presence

Great Light Guiding

Beyond Our Rituals

Let Peace Break Out

Behold the Stars

Fear Not

The Coming of the Lord

In the Fullness of Time

We Recall

Wrapped in Flesh

Living and Praying in Hope

Surprise

Out of the Way Places

Wish List

Songs of the Season

You Came

Being a Baby

Creating Room Within

Good Will Toward All

Perception Is Not Reality

The Night Before

A Savior Is Born

The Day After

A Whole New World

Reflectors, Candles, and Embers

A Message of Liberation

Your Gifts Keep Giving

A Look Back

Dedication

This book of prayers is dedicated to the staff, patients, and families of the Baptist Easley Hospital of Easley, South Carolina, who were the first for whom they were offered.

Introduction

The collection of prayers that constitutes this work were written and shared with the staff, patients, and families at Baptist Easley Hospital of Easley, South Carolina. They were shared throughout the hospital by means of the intercom at 8:30 in the morning and 8:00 in the evening. The Prayers-on-the-Air program has been in operation since 2001. It originated from a request by the hospital employees to begin and end the day with prayer.

To keep the experience fresh, I have written new prayers for each day. The prayers are a reflection of the faith journey throughout the year. They also reflect some of the great themes of faith such as hope, joy, peace, grace, struggle, and discipline in life’s journey. I have made an effort to connect the prayers to daily living and issues that confront each of us. Some have even said of the prayers that they reflect practical theology. Since many special holidays occur on different dates in different years, I hope that you will rearrange the prayers freely to suit dates and special events in any given year.

Another aspect of these prayers is the use of different metaphors for addressing God. Different people experience the Holy in different ways. I have sought to be both inclusive and expansive in this practice. I also acknowledge that the prayers reflect more of the Christian tradition. This is the background out of which I come and thus is the basis of my faith. The choice of scriptures comes from the canon that makes up the Protestant Bible. The hymns come from the liturgy I have enjoyed in the Protestant churches in which I have served and worshiped.

In writing these prayers I have been inspired by many from the past and present who have shared their faith journey in their writings. I stand on the shoulders of such giants as Augustine, Thomas-a-Kempis, Martin Luther, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, John Wesley, Frederick Buechner, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Ted Loder, Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr. Each of these has both fed my soul and fired my imagination. I have felt that the prayers have come more through me than from me, as I have been led by the Spirit.

The title of the work, Morning Glory and Evening Grace, comes from a phrase I heard used by a radio talk show host. I felt it was most appropriate in that the prayers were offered in the morning and evening in the hospital.

It is my hope that the prayers will find a place in your heart. They are designed to cause one to think. Above all they are offered to God as an expression of gratitude for His abiding guidance and strength for us daily.

Dr. Walter S. Coleman, Jr.

Chaplain, Baptist Easley Hospital

2012

Unfolding Days

Lord of the Unfolding Way, we come to seek your guidance and wisdom as this new year begins to unfold. Our lives are each a journey that moves ever onward through the days you have planned for us. Some of the days will be marked by frustration and disappointment. Some of them will be marked by routine and ordinary occurrences. Some of them will feel rushed and chaotic. Some of them will contain discovery and wonder. Each day will provide opportunities to learn and to follow you.

Help us to value each day for what it is – a twenty-four hour gift of opportunity and possibility. Every moment is of supreme worth. Each is like a pearl of great price ready to be strung into a beautiful work of art. You are the artist who is putting each moment in place to reflect the wonder of your plan for creation. Let us submit to your placing us in the right position and the best light so that, like a diamond, we can display every shining facet that lies within us. Help us to redeem the time of our lives and shine brilliantly for you.

-AMEN

What Shall We Become?

You have encouraged us, Lord, to ask, seek, and knock to receive answers to our questions. One of the most pressing questions in our focus at this time is What shall we become? during this year. This is important because it pitches our vision forward and sets our intention in the present. How we spend our time, resources, and energy will determine what we become. We can spend our time wishing or hoping something would happen but most times it never comes about.

We can put forth excuses for why something won’t work, and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We can set our sights lower on the good and never experience greatness.

Help us to ask of you the things that will add action to our intention. Grant to us the wisdom to discern the best ways to advance toward goals you have inspired us to adopt. Help us to stretch and grow beyond our comfort zones and risk trusting you to provide hope where we cannot see. Grant to us the courage to live fully into our questions.

-AMEN

A Five Fold Blessing

Sometimes, Lord, we need to listen to voices from the past to find meaning in the present. One such voice is that of Moses, as he blesses the people of Israel. He says to them: The Lord bless you and keep you, make his face to shine upon you, be gracious to you, give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26). All parts of this blessing we desire, Lord.

What a joy it is when you choose to bless us. Your blessings far exceed anything we deserve or expect. They are extravagant and life giving. They provide hope and grace in our lives.

We also desire that you keep us. In your keeping we can turn away from our fear and know that you will be there to guide and strengthen us. Your promise to dwell with us always is a solid place for us to stand.

When you shine your face upon us, you grant to us a glimpse of what it means to be fully alive in you. You reveal your loving nature and show us who we were meant to be.

When you are gracious, we experience what it means to have life and life more abundantly.

Finally, in our internal and external world there is much conflict, so we desire your final gift of peace.

Grant to us this five fold blessing, Lord.

-AMEN

Consecrated Gifts

Giver of Gifts, no matter how many times it is said, we have to return again and again to the truth that the gifts we receive from you are to be used in service to you and others. There is no question that we are each gifted. Gifts come as part of who we are and how we are made. You design us with gifts, Lord, to add to the unfolding of your divine plan.

Too often, though, we run away from our gifts. We hide them, or more seriously we use them to build ourselves up. We display them in prideful and arrogant ways. We use them to lord it over others and to grab power. We forget the order of things, and we strive to become our own gifted creators. When we crash and burn we wonder what went wrong.

Help us to honor the gifts that you have given us and, more importantly, honor you as the Giver. Let us not spend so much time applauding the gifts we have, but instead devote ourselves to consecrating our use of them with honesty, integrity, and faith. By devoting these gifts to your honor, we can fulfill what it means to be your instruments for good in this world.

-AMEN

No Jealousy or Envy

We come to you today, Friend and Companion, to ask that you help us to grow beyond the ugly habits of jealousy and envy. They bite at our heels and our souls like little dogs anxious to take a piece out of us. In reality, when they do overcome us we truly lose a piece of ourselves.

Our world issues a siren call that is hard to ignore. The call is to compare. In and of itself comparison is not bad. It becomes bad when we look at the success of another and envy what they have. If they gain wealth, we feel poor. If they gain property, we feel deprived. If their children do well, we wonder why ours did not do better. It can be a deadly trap.

Help us to move away from this trap of comparison, and instead spend our time wishing others well and rejoicing with them in the blessings you have chosen to share with them. When we do this you help us repair that missing piece torn out of us by jealousy and envy. In reality we are all blessed beyond compare because we are your children, and as such we are heirs to your grace and love. Both of these are given without regard to status or worthiness. Jealousy and envy have no place in your order of things.

-AMEN

The More Monster

Guiding Lord and Guardian of our way, we are grateful that you help us not to be devoured by the More Monster. Everywhere we turn this monster seems to be in our face. The need for more from us is voracious. The cry of this monster is for more of our time, more of our energy, or more of our resources. It is a never-ending chant from our families, our jobs, our friends, or ourselves. What we ask of you, Lord, is to help us remember that the more monster is not in control, but you are.

Your word to us is to follow your time-table and not our own. Guide us to remember that some very effective ways to tame the more monster are to say not now, wait, this is not a priority, or simply no. Sometimes we find these simple words hard to speak. Give us the courage to find our voices and know that in speaking them we can retain our energy and restore our souls.

Thank you for helping us to know that more does not always mean better or best.

-AMEN

Tsunami

Creator and Father of All, we come to you with many questions regarding the devastation and death that has visited a whole region of the world. The numbers and pictures overwhelm us. Our hearts are heavy and our minds are numbed as we seek to grasp what we can do to help.

We know that nature can display its power in many forms. We know of the forces of hurricanes and tornados but we had no idea of the power of a tsunami. Now that we do, we can’t go back to business as usual. The world has been ripped and many in the global villages are suffering in ways we can’t begin to fathom.

Our prayer is that, even when we don’t understand such devastation, we will trust you to be active and present in it all. Help us to remain tender in our hearts and let us be generous in supplying aid and comfort. Above all, keep before us that when one rider on planet earth is hurting, we are all diminished and we truly are our brother’s keeper.

-AMEN

Always There

Ever Present Lord, we are grateful that you are always with us. It is hard for us to believe this because we put up barriers that we believe separate us from you. The truth is there are no such barriers. Even when we can’t see you, you are the light that shines through us. Even when we can’t feel you, you provide the power for us to carry on. Even when we don’t fully understand your ways and your plans, you continue to work them in and around us. Even when we turn away from you, you remain available to welcome us when we return. When we are plagued by loneliness, fear, or pain, you are there to hold us.

When the circumstances of life seem so unfair and brutal, you are there with your goodness and grace. When love seems to have gone and hate seems to reign, your love never ends. When the world seems to exert the power of politics and force, you quietly work behind the scenes in obscure people and obscure places, to change the course of events.

Above all when our faith is plagued by questions, you remain as the ever present answer who never waivers and never stops loving us.

-AMEN

Deadly Privatizing

If there is one thing that marks our dealing with you, Lord, it is that relationship is at the heart of everything. You created everything in the world to be interdependent and interrelated. You call for community, not isolation. Our language should include more we than I, more our instead of my, and more us than me. You seek connection, not aloneness. Privatizing our faith goes against the grain of your grace.

When love is privatized it becomes pride. When grace is privatized it becomes greed. When hope is privatized it becomes fantasies. None of the gifts or virtues that we possess can grow or mature apart from community.

Help us to be willing to move out of our walled-off centers of the ego and live expansively in open spaces of mutual respect and assistance. Let us value the diversity of expression found in our individual lives, but hold to the truth we are one in the Spirit.

-AMEN

Of Time and History

Lord of all time and history, we are aware of the reality that our lives are measured by both. We measure our existence in hours, days, months, and years. These are ways we chart events as they unfold and thus they form the substance of our history. You have put both in place so we can give meaning and perspective to our