Community

Lord,

Help me to shrug away from shyness and to be with people in community even though I always struggle to do so.  Help me to remember to just relax and let a conversation flow with someone whom I don't know.

Help me to give to my community but also to allow my community to give back to me.  It isn't all about me doing things by myself.

Help me to learn how to approach people rather than just standing back and hoping someone will invite me into a conversation.  Then, help me to always remember to listen.

Lord Jesus,

Please help me to remember that You gave your people a community of believers for a reason.  You were always gathering with people and teaching people in groups.  Help me to rejoice not only in personal communion with you, but to celebrate and rejoice in the community You have given to me.  Then, help me to have humility within the group.

Amen

The Good

Lord,

Help me to see the good in people and not complain against them.  If something needs fixing, help me to help to fix the situation but to always see the good in people.

Help me instead to focus inward at those things in myself that need changing.  

Help me to turn away from the notion that there is nothing within me that needs changing.  This trap is laid out  for me in a new place in my life everyday.  I must always look for where it is hiding.

Lord,

Help me to rejoice in the goodness of others and see that it is the goodness You have placed there.

Help me to recognize that when I see and want to over-grasp those things I see as good in myself that I must also remember that these things are the goodness You have placed in me and not merely a testament to puff myself up.

Lord,

Please help me to keep my mind and my heart ready for You today.

Amen

Cultivation

Lord,

Help me to remember that seeds sometimes need to be cultivated.

Sometimes, seeds need planting and watering.

You provide the soil, the sunshine, and the rains, but sometimes, water has to be brought to the flowers for them to grow.

May you help me to keep your gifts in my buckets so that I might help the seeds to grow: seeds in myself and seeds in others that sometimes need a little TLC.

For your goodness is all around me.  The task of carrying the buckets full of water to others is all that's necessary because you provide the rest of what is needed.

Help me to remember this and act upon it.

Amen