Monday of Pentecost 10 – Prayer of the Week
Almighty and merciful God, preserve us from all harm and danger that we, being ready in both body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish what You want done; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
You can always tell a good teacher. He or she delights in the accomplishments of students. The teacher is not satisfied with getting something done. If getting the task done was the real goal, the teacher could probably do whatever needs doing faster and better than the apprentice or the student. But the teacher is not so much try to get the task done. The teacher is interested in nurturing something in a student. It is a little like gardening. I could go out and buy the zucchini in the grocery store, but there is something about watching the seeds germinate grow, and eventually overwhelm me with produce that I never grow tired of. OK, sometimes I do get tired of Zucchini, but watching it grow remains a delight.
We pray in this prayer that God would preserve us from harm and danger so we may cheerfully accomplish what he wants done. Have you ever thought about how strange that is? After all, God has all the power. There is nothing he could not do better and faster. But asks us to do some things. He has made us witnesses of his Son, Jesus. It is not out of some need he has for our service. So why does he ask? He asks for us and for our sake. I look at the blooms on my flowers and vegetables, I watch the bees moving from blossom to blossom. A garden, in summer when the days are warm and long, is a cheerfully productive place which delights the gardener. A student who masters the skill or learns the formula and applies it properly is the delight of the teacher. The Christian cheerfully doing what God asks is a delight to his or her creator. Pray to be that cheerful doer of what God asks to be done. It is a very good thing to be.
Rev. Phillip Brandt, MDiv, PhD
Join us tomorrow for the study of 1 Timothy on WebEx. Coffee Fellowship at 9:30 am, study at 10:00 am -Contact me if you need the link.
Blessings this Green Season
Pr Fred
