Month: December 2024

A Prayer for Planners when the Plans Go Off-Track

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I love a plan and a to do list. It is Christmas week and I am preaching Sunday. We had company last weekend and have new company coming this weekend. (Neither company cares what the house looks like. I am using their arrivals as encouragement to sort, organize, and clean).

And in the middle of all this, we take my computer to the fix it store to get it working properly. This throws a big wrench into my plans. And I am being flexible and hopeful and positive.

While you might not have encountered this exact list of off-track items, I do know you have had weeks like this. And this prayer is for all of us when our week hits a couple of speed bumps along with a few traffic cones and a detour.

Loving God, you know I had a great plan. You know I love to follow a plan. And you know how poorly my plan is going this week. Give me strength and creativity to enact a new plan knowing that you are at the center of all my plans and working all things together for good. Thank you for showing me that pivoting to a new plan is a great idea when things go off track. And thank you for supporting us when it becomes too much and overwhelming. Thank you for plans A, B, and C! Amen.

Hope and Quiet in Advent

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On Sunday when I led the children’s moment at church, we lit the hope candle and talked about being quiet. I shared with them how my sister and I were asked to play the quiet game on long road trips when our parents had reached their limits on our sisterly bickering. And I asked them to share how they find moments of quiet in our busy lives especially this busy season!

I hope while you are preparing for the birth of Jesus that you find moments of quiet this season. You know I would recommend you make a cup of tea, sitting by the tree, and have a prayerful quiet moment. And if that is too much for you this season, simply pause and give thanks for a moment of silence while waiting for the return of our Prince of Peace.

Originator of Hope, This season of preparing is filled with so much noise. Much of it is joyful noises-carols, laughter, conversations. And yet sometimes it is just too much. We long for quiet. We long to feel hope. We long for your return as the Prince of Peace in our lives and in this world. So, quiet our hearts and our minds and focus them on you. Renew our hope. And guide us back into a close relationship with the One who inspires our hopeful silence. Amen.