Meditation

God of history and of my heart,
so much has happened to me
during these whirlwind days.
     I've known death and birth;
     I've been brave and scared;
     I've hurt, I've helped;
     I've been honest, I've lied;
     I've destroyed, I've created;
     I've been with people, I've been lonely;
     I've been loyal, I've betrayed;
     I've decided, I've waffled;
     I've laughed and I've cried.
     You know my frail heart
     and my frayed history
and now another day begins.

O God, help me to believe in beginnings
and in my beginning again,
no matter how often I've failed before.

Help me to make beginnings:
to begin going out of my weary mind into fresh dreams,
     daring to make my own bold tracks in the land of now;
to begin forgiving that I may experience mercy;
to begin questioning the unquestionable that I may know truth;
to begin disciplining that I may create beauty;
to begin sacrificing that I may accomplish justice;
to begin risking that I may make peace;
to begin loving that I may realize joy.

Help me to be a beginning for others,
     to be a singer for the songless,
     a storyteller to the aimless,
     a befriender of the friendless;

     to become a beginning
         of hope for the despairing,
          of assurance for the doubting,
          of reconciliation for the divided;

     to become a beginning
          of freedom for the oppressed,
          of comfort for the sorrowing,
          of friendship for the forgotten;

     to become a beginning
          of beauty for the forlorn,
          of sweetness for the soured,
          of gentleness for the angry,
          of wholeness for the broken,
          of peace for the frightened and hurting of the earth.

     Help me to believe in beginnings,
          to make a beginning,
               to be a beginning,
     so that I may not just grow old,
         but grew new
               each day
                    of this wild, amazing life
          you call me to live
          with the passion of Jesus Christ!

Adapted from "Guerrillas of Grace,"  by Ted Loder