a blessing for the courage to do something difficult
God, i am struggling to face
the difficult thing i know i should do.
o God, help me.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
i took courage,
for the hand of the Lord my God was on me.
Ezra 7:28
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
blessed are we who recognize, that strangely,
we are struggling under the weight
of the nothing that has happened
but needs to.
blessed we who say honestly, God,
this is so hard, and i don’t know why.
the longer i leave it, the worse it gets.
God, help me begin
—or even begin to begin—
though i can’t know how this will go.
come into that inner space
where i am secretly overwhelmed
yet hiding it, even from myself.
the fact is,
there is that one difficult thing.
and what if it were today
that it could start?
and even as I begin to notice how afraid i am,
i hear you say again
“I will strengthen you and help you” (Isaiah 41:10)
and the truth comes clear
that You go before me
and yet You are right here with me.
even now. love never fails.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
do what you know.
then ask for what you need next.
love wins.
when i am afraid, i will trust in You.
Psalm 56:3
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We want to tell the truth about the suffering of our world. But here are three things about the intensely URGENT AND APOCALYPTIC culture of Twitter actually prevents me from grappling with the truth about suffering sometimes. (thread)
1. Most people need to manage the amount of suffering they absorb in a day. Twitter seems to demand that you withstand life's terror every day, at all times, or else you are somehow complicit. I wish there were more grace for the way that we need moments of exposure and shelter.
In the cancer clinic, the nurses always turned off the news. I always appreciated that as a permission slip. One day's suffering is enough.
o God these are darkening days,
with no hope in sight.
o God help us in our fear and desperation.
anchor us in hope!
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
“let not your heart be troubled;
you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
John 14:1
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.
blessed are we with eyes open to see
the suffering from pandemic danger,
sickness and loneliness,
the injustice of racial oppression,
the unimpeded greed and misuse of power,
a blessing for the day we mourn our dead (All Saints’ Day)
o God, we have not been here before.
sorrows old and new envelop us
as we grieve in this new pandemic reality,
without hugs and funerals, shared jokes and fresh tears,
and graveside picnics to place flowers
for those long departed.
God, give us comfort that is bigger than all this,
and love that is stronger than all this.
God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.