A prayer

Every three months or so, I'm on the schedule to write for a webpage called "World In Prayer." Most often I peruse numerous online newspapers to sum up world events and put them in prayer form. This week, I felt newsed out and wrote something very different. It's not that I'm so pleased with the writing, but I think the prayer says what I'm really praying. And then I went and did it. So here it is:

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
What is man that you should be mindful of him?
The son of man that you should seek him out?"
- Psalm 8:4-5

God, I've been so hooked on the 24-hour news cycle that I forget that "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

I've been so concerned about each and every twitch of polls and stock market that I forget that "with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day." (2 Peter 3:8)

Forgive me for my anxiety, for letting it control my days and fill my thoughts.

Instead, God, today let me take a walk outside and look at the sky. Let me consider the world you have made.

God, let me breathe deeply, and feel your Spirit within me.
Let me move my limbs and remember that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Let me splash water on my face and remember my baptism.
Let me be loving towards my family.
Let me be generous towards strangers.
Let me commend my spirit into your hands.
Let me not be afraid.

Amen.