Peace and Hope

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:16

Next week was listed on the school calendar as “Spring Break” week.  Like most folks, I had a list of things, places and people to fill the week and like everyone else, the schedule looks completely different. Never in a million years would I have listed my number one spring break activity as making protective face masks for my daughter the nurse but you can bet my sewing machine will be humming!  As we begin to navigate our way through these different days we have to remember to anchor ourselves in hope and peace.  

But how?  It sure sounds great but how do we settle our souls in such an uncertain time.  I’ve been praying a lot about that and two powerful prayers came to mind.  They came in one of those “wake up you knucklehead” kind of moments.  They aren't new and one of them is a prayer that has gotten our communities through some tough stuff in the past so I thought I’d dust them off and offer them to all those of us trying to find our faithful balance.

The first prayer for us to grab on to is that powerful 4 line prayer based on the writings of St. Francis DeSales…I Cant, You Can, You Promised, Please Do.  Here’s what it looks like right about now…
*I Can’t…I can’t imagine how this will all turn out, I can’t stop thinking about how my family will stay healthy, I can’t figure out how it got so crazy, I can’t get past the fear of getting sick, I can’t imagine how God could let this happen, I can’t get used to everything that’s so different, I can’t process all the disappointments.
*You Can…You can bring peace, you can bring healing, you can strengthen us, you can protect us, you can give us the grace to weather this storm, you can grant eternal life to your faithful, you can do exactly what needs to be done to accomplish the plans only you can know, you can be trusted to love us through this because you’ve already been where we are.
*You Promised…you promised to be with us, to guide us, to bring life, to comfort and shelter us and you promised to lead us to Our Heavenly Father.
*Please Do…please bless us with peace, bring us strength, build up our trust, take care of us.  Please do all that we need to grow in our faith and trust in your mercy.

Each time you feel the worry, fear, disappointment or uncertainty hanging over your head like a dark cloud, take these four lines and use them to craft a conversation with the Father filling in all the things on your heart.  Tell God what you need, what you want and give him permission to come into your heart right where you are.  It’s ok if it’s a little dark or angry or doubtful; he’s seen it all and he wants to be invited in to all of it because he loves us with the most tender, precious love we can imagine.

The second prayer has three parts.  We ASK, we OFFER and we ACCEPT.  It might go something like this…
*Lord I ask you to come into my fear or doubt or worry.  I ask you to be present to me and make me aware of your presence.
*Lord I offer this suffering to you. I offer you my confusion or lack of patience with my children or my sadness in missing my friends and family.  Whatever it is, offer it to him.  It might seem like we’re offering him a pretty lousy gift but he’s delighted to take what we offer him.
*Lord, I accept this situation.  I accept whatever blessings and grace you will grant me or my family or my community.  

As we ask, offer and accept we demonstrate faith, surrender, trust and obedience.  In those three simple statements we give God permission and we cooperate with his perfect love.  We can pray this prayer dozens of times a day.  We can pray it when the kids are getting along and there is peace and we can pray it when they’re fussing.  We can pray it during those moments when we feel his grace working in our life.  You can pray it for the good stuff and for the bad stuff.  He wants to be a part of it all.  In praying this little prayer we make sure not to waste any suffering and it can be a sign of our gratitude.

Hold fast to these two simple prayers when your heart is troubled and when you notice all the moments of beauty in the midst of the mess.  Make no mistake, he’s right there for all of it.

A Seed To Plant:  Jot down these two prayers and put them in a couple of places so you remember to lean on them and the peace and hope they will bring.​

Blessings on your day!