6:39AM: The snow of the past 48 hours has finally stopped and we will see temperatures above 40 degrees today (perhaps). It is a day, then, for morning praise. I choose J. Philip Newell for my prayer partner:
For the first showings of the morning light and the emerging outline of the day, thanks be to You, O God. For earth’s colors drawn forth by the sun, it’s brilliance piercing clouds of darkness and shimmering through the leaves and flowing waters, thanks be to You. Show me this day amidst life’s dark streaks of wrong and suffering the light that endures in every person. Dispel the confusions that cling close to my soul, that I may see with eyes washed by Your grace, that I may see myself and all people with eyes cleansed by the freshness of the new day’s light. (Celtic Benediction, p. 40)
Newell then suggests that we pray for the coming day and for the life of the world. I suggest we try for a rising of hope in that prayer. We need it!
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 