January Prayers

This is my letter for the church newsletter. I thought I would share it on this blog.


Dear Friends
I write this in a chilly office on a very cold day in January. I started this day with my own mantra which is: “I am here to be with you.” I pray this every day and remember that my purpose and my life comes from my relationship with God.
As I unpack this simple phrase, it means - - I am here – on this earth, in this home, in this marriage, in this calling, in this moment –
to be with you, my God, , Jesus, spirit, love.
And as I say those words and pray those words, I start to remember that God, the source of life is here with me.


January has been a very cold month in Ohio and in many ways it has been a hard time. And so my letter is a gift of a prayer for all of us. Both my simple mantra and this wonderful prayer by Ted Loder. May we continue to remember that our life is rich and deep as we open ourselves to God’s presence.
Who is HERE


Oh God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me.
Soothe my tiredness;
quiet my fretfulness;
curb my aimlessness;
relieve my compulsiveness;
let me be easy for a moment.
O Lord, release me
from the fears and guilts which grip me so tightly;
from the expectations and opinions which I so tightly grip,
that I may be open
to receiving what you give,
to risking something genuinely new,
to learning something refreshingly different.
Forgive me
for claiming so much for myself
that I leave no room for gratitude;
for confusing exercises in self-importance
with acceptance of self-worth;
for complaining so much of my burdens
that I become a burden;
for competing against others so insidiously
that I stifle celebrating them
and receiving your blessing through their gifts.
O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.
Amen.