Trampled Underfoot

Lord,

Help me to stand up when I have fallen.

Help me to shine vibrantly for You even though the world may trample me underfoot.

Help me to be an answered prayer for someone else today, that I might add color to another's day by serving You.

Help me to open up to You and open up to others rather than closing in on myself.

Lord,

Please help me to again stand up, even as I fall again.  I fall often.

Help me to be there for others even when others want to curl up and turn away.  Help me to know when to back off and when to push so that they don't close me out.

Amen

Focus

Dear Lord,

Since I'll have my head down and working for longer than normal today, please give me colors.

For when I see colors, I see You.  Who else can make such colors?

Lord, let me be awed by your creation.  When I am awed, I forget about my muscle spasms.  :-)

When I am awed, I must think about how the work I do is valuable because just as You made colors, You made me.

Just as You made colors, You made those around me.  All those around me.  Not just the people I like.

You made everyone beautiful, even when I don't see the beauty.  I must still treat everyone as beautiful.

I must always remember that You died on the cross for the sake of everyone's salvation, so I mustn't ever judge myself more worthy than another.  We all make choices and then make more choices and then make more choices.

Lord,

Help me to stay focused today.  Focused on my work.  Focused on my driving.  Focused on staying awake.  Most importantly, focused on seeing You in others.

Lord,

Hold my hand today.  I am in need of a Companion today, especially as these jerks/spasms continue to get worse every day.  Hold my hand and let me focus on You rather than the electricity everywhere in my body.

Amen.

Distraction

Dear Lord,

Please help me to sleep even though I still see your colors everywhere.  I'm seeing your colors to the point of distraction.

Help me to see what I am supposed to see and then reflect upon seeing You in others.

Lord, 

Help me to always point to You, even when my knee-jerk reaction is to think that You are stripping me bare. 

Sometimes life seems like it doesn't make sense, but I need You to remind me that I must always point to You.

Amen

Needs

Lord,

Help me to remember that there are many shades of emotion in people.

Help me to remember that even when people think they know their own emotions, sometimes, there are more shades of that emotion inside than they might not even know are there.  Just like my emotions evolve and can spark or halt progress, so too do I need to remember to give people time and space to figure out their own feelings. 

Lord, 

Help me to be more prepared for what people need.  Help me to think ahead and anticipate what needs to be done before it needs to be done.  

Amen

Pink

Lord,

Help me today to see pink all around me.  You have place so much pink near me lately that I cannot ignore it.  Help me to reflect on the beauty you have given me so that I might reflect your beauty back to others.

Amen

Peek into My Soul

Lord,

Peek into my soul today and let Yourself in.  Let me rest in You.  Remind me to rest in You, for I often forget and try to do things by myself.  I try to do things my way.  I try to go on full blast without Your help.

Lord,

Paint on me, Your canvas.  Paint your colors brightly, for You are an artist no other brush can equal!

Lord,

Help me to ask for You!  Let me grow in this life but with a constant companion, even when the world says I am alone.

Lord,

Remind me that Your many ways find me, even when I think I am alone.  You bring me friends when I need solace and help me to be alone when I need solitude.

I will walk today, Lord.  Let me to take from this journey whatever it is You have planned for me.

Amen

Colors

Lord,

Let me see your colors.  You named me with a name that would forever cause me to look for your colors.  I came into this world named Jennifer Reding.  Lord, thank you for showing me your colors today.

Thank you for warming me up to see your colors.

Again, thank you for warming me up to see your colors.

Thank you for making me nearly giddy for your colors, for I knew You would bring them to me if I was patient enough to wait today.

Yes, Lord!  How magnificent you paint the sky!  How much more beauty is there for the eye to see?  How much more beautiful must You be!

Thank you, Lord, for your colors.  Thank you, Lord, for your life-breath.  Thank you, Lord, for your insistence that we all be made differently from one another.  No two living creatures are quite the same.  Even the trees have their own shape, personality, and touch.

Amen.

Little Things

Lord,

I pray that I might always see the little things.

Help me to follow the way of little things.  They move in different ways than larger things.

Little things must avoid the dangers, pitfalls, and stompings of larger things.  Oh, Lord Jesus, if only I could look above to avoid the stompings of larger things!  I would always seek your Face when avoiding the pitfalls and perils of these stompings.

Lord, let me not be stung by false joy, but rather rejoice in You as you are in all good things. 

Let me see your beauty, as your colors are marvelous.  Your creation sings to me.  Let my ears be open to your voice in the vibrancy of your creation.

Ears!  Work with my eyes to see!  Lord, help my ears to work with my eyes.

Lord,

Help my tongue to sing together with my ears and eyes, for too often they are not together in your ways.

Lord,

Let me drink in the beauty of your creation, for it is a full cup.  It is a cup you have given to me over and over again.  It overflows with the spectacular colors of your creation.

Let me not see false beauty in myself, but the true beauty that You have placed within me.  Let me sparkle, but not of my own light but of your light.  Let your sparkle be a vibrant light for others, even as I struggle toward You.

Lord,

Clothe me with your colors and help me to avoid vanity.

Lord,

Help me to remember that without You, I have no shelter.  I am nothing but a slug without the house of the snail.

Lord,

Help me remember today to listen.  It is my job to listen.  Let me listen with both my ears and my eyes, for I want to see You today.

Lord,

Let me see your colors today, for your colors are in all of your creation.  Your colors are free, yet I spend money on false colors, on false vibrancy, on false majesty.  Open me, oh Lord.  I wish to be opened.

Let me hold your colorful hand today, my Friend.

Amen.