Seven More and One for Me

   I realize that my posting yesterday put me in a dangerous place. Since I wrote about 7 prayers for my eldest child, I could not stop there, but continue to think about other specific ones for my others. As I woke up this morning, my first thoughts were about what I could say today. Could I maybe skip that theme and come back to it at a later time?

   So, I opened up the computer in this early hour, this early quiet hour, and looked for what God might be telling me to do. Perhaps it would be something that just spoke to me alone, and I could pray for my daughter another day.

   When I went to the Psalm reading, the computer tells me that there is an error and no reading is there for today. So I go to the Gospel reading, and what do I see in the first verses of it? This:

   “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.”

   I know that I may be taking the whole of the passage from John 12 out of context, but could it mean that I need to finish what I began yesterday morning? I sense that I do and so I begin:

   What do I pray for my daughter this morning? How can I affirm things that she is already doing and challenge her to continue some paths and reach for newer ones? How can I word each prayer in love for her and gratitude for her life? How can I show my pride in what she has accomplished and my hope for what she will be ,and do in the future?

   With God's help I will try.

   I pray that her life will show a willingness to be concerned about others less fortunate than she is.

   I pray that God will take the liturgy of her church, that she loves so well, and make it as fresh to her as when it was written so long ago.

   I pray that God will bless her role as a mother, as she pours into the lives of her two children.

   I pray that God will take her vocation as a teacher and role model to new heights, and that He will be glorified in the ideas that she teaches, and the role that she portrays before her students.

   I pray that God will take those times that she spends in academic pursuits, especially in her religious studies and conferences, and speak to her in what others have discovered about Himself and His world.

   I pray that her family will be united in love for each other and love for those around them.

   God, I pray that this girl, that is much like me in so many ways, that I love so much, will be the woman, teacher, mother, wife, and daughter that You want her to be. That You would fill her life with blessings, that she might be able to bless others in Your name and for Your sake.

   And now a prayer as I finish.

   Thank you God, for giving me this time to reflect on the life of my daughter. May she be Your child in the days ahead in the ways You want her to be, and don't let me brag on her too much.

   Amen and Amen