A Prayer As We Go

Click HERE and I’ll read the whole thing to you in about 3 mins! We’ve played the final concert, cheered for the final game, taken the last test, cleaned out the notebooks and signed all the yearbooks. And it is finished. This year. This time. This work. Our feet will not pass this way again. And I need a minute.

They say time waits for no man, or woman. And heavens knows I have found this to be true. But the pace of this ending always takes my breath away. I find myself wanting to grab the end of the leash as it runs past. Hold on. Let’s slow this whole thing down just a bit.

But my people are ready to be done. What lies ahead seems way more enticing than what we’ve left behind. So I’ll keep it short. Here’s a prayer for us all as we go.

Heavenly Father, This is the day that you have made. May we rejoice and be glad in it. And if today holds nothing more than the ordinary stuff, may we have eyes to see you with us in it. But if today is the ending or the beginning of a season, would you grant our souls a minute to acknowledge this space?

Come close, Lord Jesus. Close enough so that even in the frantic pace of this season we can look up and know your nearness. Give our hearts the room we need to close the chapter we have finished. Remind us of the things we’ve learned, the people we’ve come to love, the way that life has been in this place. Help us find the things for which we are grateful. And help us hold them well.

But, then help us turn into our new place. Maybe it is a season of rest and fun or different work or new people. Help us walk into it with eyes wide open. If we are tired, help us rest. If we are broken, help us heal. If we are lonely, send us people and if we don’t know what’s next, help us hear you whisper it’s okay.

May we remember that all things start and end with you. You are the Alpha and the Omega. The ending and the beginning. And there is nowhere we can go that you are not. Because though seasons can change us, they can never change you. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. Steady us in that knowledge.

[You] are before all things and in [you] all things hold together. Even if we can’t see it. Even if we glance back over our shoulder and it looks like the whole year fell apart. Even if we are stepping over the mess to make it to the next thing and holding questions that these days never answered. You, Lord have been with us and will be with us as we go.

So help us say good-bye or hello or see you next year or welcome summer with the knowledge that as my pastor reminds us each week, “We go nowhere by accident. Everywhere we go God is sending us.” Lord help us live this next season as sent people; people who believe that you are the eternal God who is our refuge and underneath, underneath all these days, all these years and all these seasons are your everlasting arms. And you will never let go.

Alleluia. Amen.