Seasonal Shifts with Prayer

It's another day of summer-like heat:  highs in the 90's.  Yesterday I cleaned up the 2 small pumpkins that had already started to rot on my porch, just 5 days after I put them there.  I could use a change in the weather.

I could use a change in my internal weather too.  It's a day of meetings and conference calls at work, ending in a Council meeting at church.  I find myself full of dread, and for no good reason.  I like the people who will be at the meetings.  But I no longer feel like meetings are the best use of time.

I remind myself that we don't have to measure everything in terms of its efficiency.  Some times it's good to meet, to be able to see faces while we exchange ideas, even if they're ideas that we've already discussed before.  I remind myself that it's good to have multiple minds together working on projects.

I just wish all my meetings didn't fall on the same day.  I wish that last week hadn't been a week of such dreadful meetings, which leaves me feeling more apprehensive than I would otherwise feel.

So, I shall pray for patience and for good spirits.  And I wrote a prayer to begin our council meeting.  I'll probably pray something similar at the beginning of all of my meetings, although I'll be doing it silently, by myself.

On the off chance that you could use a prayer today, here's what I wrote:

Creator God, as we enter this time of reformers and saints, show us the paths forward, so that we, too, can lead your faithful people.  Give us guidance as we think about what needs to happen at Trinity Lutheran Church.  Remind us of the resources that require us to be good stewards.  Help us to let go of what serves us no longer.  Help us to discern the difference between our will and your will.  Align us.  Amen.