Live It Out

   I sensed a theme running through the readings of today.

   "Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!"

   And from the Gospel of Mark,

   "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 

   And from a Psalm used in the Moravian Text for today,

   "You have seen it, O Lord, do not keep silent;"

   And from the Book of Nehemiah,

   "When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven."

   All through these readings, prayer is the theme, and it may jump out at me because I do not feel that is one of my strong suits. I often feel inadequate in prayer, and, when asked to pray orally in front of others, I measure my words with thoughts of the ones that are within the sound of my voice instead of the one to Whom I pray.

   I find that the ones I pray in secret, the ones only God hears, the ones that I take the time to write out as I pray them are the most sincere, the ones that are the real me.

   So when I continue reading in the Moravian Text, these words from a hymn used there strike a chord:

                              "You taught us Lord, words to pray
                                and You alone can grant us grace
                                to live the words we say"

   Let me live them out, not just pray and forget.

   Do I ask for forgiveness? Let me live out Your forgiveness in my life, and let me forgive others.

   Do I ask for peace? Let me live it out in my relationships with others.

   Do I seek help? Let me acknowledge where that help comes from.

   Others cannot hear my silent prayers, but they can see the results in the way I live.

   So here is another prayer: "Let me so live"