Psalm 5:2
"Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to you.”
How do you bracket the day? What comes first? What comes last? Recommendation: Simple prayer.
It doesn't have to be a long prayer to be effective. For me, a heart-felt word with God has enormous power to focus my thinking and shape my day. Some days it is just a sentence.
A good model for starting and finishing the day is the manuscripts of J.S. Bach. When he wrote music he would often begin by writing the initials J.J. at the top of the page. It stands for "Jesu Juva", Latin for "Jesus help me". He understood his dependence on God.
Then at the end of the finished composition he would write S.D.G (Soli Deo Gloria), "To God alone be the glory". He made each piece of music he wrote an offering to God. I want to make each day I live an offering.
God gives me a clean sheet each day. What a privilege. I want to write my life on it with Jesus Help and offer it to God's glory.
The truth is, some days I start with a rush and end with a sigh. Some days I wake up worried and drop into bed frustrated. But on my best days, I start with prayer and end with prayer. Jesus' help me! Glory to God!
A prayer sandwich. It's a productive way to bracket my waking hours.
Question
Do you have daily rituals of prayer that help you? Share them with me.
Wonderful words. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple silly. It can't get any simpler than this. As always it has so much to do with one's posture and attitude towards life.
ReplyDeleteThanks again Allan for taking the time to share your thoughts through your writings.
As for my daily rituals, it seems to me I throw up more than my fair share of hail mary passes for God to catch for me. Good thing God's using you as a pass receiver sometimes.
Michael M
Describes me! Somedays it's rushed, others it's a long luxury time with God, but as long as the contact is maintained-free of distractions and always with Praise first, Thanks next, Others and then myself. Focussing on God's attributes somehow makes the 'requests' not as desperate! I KNOW God can!.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting guys. Ruby makes a good point about prayers of thanksgiving. I find that really helps me to keep my attitude right. And as Michael says attitude is so important.
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