Prayers intro.

Good morning :)

I don't know about you but I like to write out my prayers. Not every one, but those that are based in scripture especially. I have a number of them that I've written, and I use them from time to time as a "conversation starter", so to speak, with the Lord. It's not that at any point I feel like He and I are strangers, it's more that I sometimes just don't know how to intelligibly form what I want to say. I really shouldn't be surprised; I have been writing my thoughts as long as I can remember. I will say that I find these prayers to be powerful for me. I find in them my reminders of who I am and what my Father expects of me. I believe that if God expects it He also enables for it. They encourage me.

My Pastor and friend, Steve, brought back from England a small book of Celtic prayers for me. It was such a sweet gift. They were basic prayers designed to help the one who had gotten a little lost on the pathways towards prayer. I was at the end of a very difficult time in my life; my heart was broken, my Spirit, dry. I was struggling to get the intimacy with God that I had once enjoyed back into my daily life. The prayers are simple and sweet. They have the familiar Celtic cadence to them that seems to speak directly to my soul. I was very grateful. He was worried that I would be offended, because it says quite directly at the beginning of the book that it is designed to get one back on track towards daily prayer. I wasn't offended in the least. I was relieved that someone could see my emptiness and reach out to try and help rather than simply judge me for it.

This is one of those lovely little prayers:

Christ, risen in glory,
scatter the darkness from our path.
Christ, risen in glory,
lift the heaviness from our hearts.
Christ, risen in glory, dispel the troubles from our minds.
Christ, risen in glory,
take the weariness from Your world,
and we will serve You in love, in joy and light and peace. Alleluia. Amen

May the road rise up to meet you today and may God's face never cease to shine on your life.