Today’s text
John 1:6-8
This was the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' He declared, he did not deny but declared, 'I am not the Christ.' So they asked, 'Then are you Elijah?' He replied, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No.' So they said to him, 'Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?' So he said, 'I am, as Isaiah prophesied: A voice of one that cries in the desert: Prepare a way for the Lord. Make his paths straight!'
Reflection
Come, Lord Jesus.
Come and don’t delay. I am not ready, but don’t let that stop you.
I need time to prepare to receive you. I need silence. I need much less activity than the breathless pace recent days has required.
I need to stare into a candle and listen to music whose very sound pleads for your presence. Then I will know my own longing and offer it to you as fitting prayer. Then I will be ready.
Preparing is not about purity but praying our need. Your love abides even when we live far from awareness of who we are and what we need. You were born into our world never again to be dislodged from your abiding.
I do not need to pray for you to come, for you are the God who comes in every moment of every place with a love that overwhelms and consoles, heals hearts and makes whole.
Yet, I pray for you to come. I suppose my prayer is really that I may enter the love that comes in every moment.
So keep coming, Lord Jesus. Come and greet me when I least expect it, when I am busy and on the run, when I am uncertain and don’t know what to say, when I am unprepared and feel insecure and inadequate, when I am angry and unforgiving, when there just isn’t enough time, when I am feeling my frailty and the demands are too much for me.
Come and don’t delay. I need you more than I can say.
Come Lord Jesus, even as you come to me in these poor words.
Pr. David L. Miller
http://prayingthemystery.blogspot.com/
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Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Today’s text
John 1:6-8
A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, he was to bear witness to the light.
Reflection
Come, Lord Jesus. Let me see your light that my darkness may flee.
It is easy to lose sight of you in the heat of the day. Work needs to be done. Challenges arise. People can be difficult. Patience grows short.
Words and emotions flood the mind and flow from the mouth, speaking nothing of your peace.
Darkness is in me. I fight it well when I am well prepared. But most often my darkness catches me off-guard, springing to life in unexpected ways and with startling speed. I am little aware until the deeds of darkness are my regret--and the wound of another.
But when I see you, when I rest in your love, when the brilliant whiteness of your unceasing goodness envelops me, all darkness flees.
So here I am again, sitting before you, calling your name, asking to see the light that shines from your face down every dark alley of creation. It pries open the heart and chases every shadow from the hall, until the light of an eternal loving fills each corner.
Yes, then mercy replaces every dark thought, and my eyes embrace all that I see with kindness. And everywhere I look I see reflections of your brilliant shining.
Come, Lord Jesus. Let me be and see your light.
Pr. David L. Miller
John 1:6-8
A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, he was to bear witness to the light.
Reflection
Come, Lord Jesus. Let me see your light that my darkness may flee.
It is easy to lose sight of you in the heat of the day. Work needs to be done. Challenges arise. People can be difficult. Patience grows short.
Words and emotions flood the mind and flow from the mouth, speaking nothing of your peace.
Darkness is in me. I fight it well when I am well prepared. But most often my darkness catches me off-guard, springing to life in unexpected ways and with startling speed. I am little aware until the deeds of darkness are my regret--and the wound of another.
But when I see you, when I rest in your love, when the brilliant whiteness of your unceasing goodness envelops me, all darkness flees.
So here I am again, sitting before you, calling your name, asking to see the light that shines from your face down every dark alley of creation. It pries open the heart and chases every shadow from the hall, until the light of an eternal loving fills each corner.
Yes, then mercy replaces every dark thought, and my eyes embrace all that I see with kindness. And everywhere I look I see reflections of your brilliant shining.
Come, Lord Jesus. Let me be and see your light.
Pr. David L. Miller
Monday, December 08, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Today’s text
John 1:6-8
A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, he was to bear witness to the light.
Reflection
Come, Lord Jesus. Shine your light in our darkness that we might believe you are light indeed.
Precious moments and people have lit out lives with the sweet joy of loving presence. But all that is human fades and flees. The people are grass, the prophet says. The grass withers, the flowers fade. We know it too well.
But you are the light of the world, not one among many. You are the One for whom every heart longs, yes, every heart, even those who dismiss you and turn away into a world that is nothing more than what they see at the moment.
But you have opened my eyes to see that there is more, a source and an end to every beauty my eyes witness, to every love my life has known, to every grace that shines even in darkest of places.
You, blessed Jesus, are the source and end of the beauty and life for which we long. So come to us now and wrest our hearts from cold winter’s grip. Warm us in the light of a love which withers not and fades never.
Come, Lord Jesus. Shine your light in our darkness.
Pr. David L. Miller
John 1:6-8
A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He was not the light, he was to bear witness to the light.
Reflection
Come, Lord Jesus. Shine your light in our darkness that we might believe you are light indeed.
Precious moments and people have lit out lives with the sweet joy of loving presence. But all that is human fades and flees. The people are grass, the prophet says. The grass withers, the flowers fade. We know it too well.
But you are the light of the world, not one among many. You are the One for whom every heart longs, yes, every heart, even those who dismiss you and turn away into a world that is nothing more than what they see at the moment.
But you have opened my eyes to see that there is more, a source and an end to every beauty my eyes witness, to every love my life has known, to every grace that shines even in darkest of places.
You, blessed Jesus, are the source and end of the beauty and life for which we long. So come to us now and wrest our hearts from cold winter’s grip. Warm us in the light of a love which withers not and fades never.
Come, Lord Jesus. Shine your light in our darkness.
Pr. David L. Miller
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