Help Me to Remember

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

1 John 4:16

Gracious God,

I long to rest in your love but some days I get so distracted
by all that surrounds me:
Friends or family members whose lives are not working,
who are struggling with debt or addictions or loss,
or who are living in loveless relationships filled with despair.
Often I have no words-there are no words.
I have only the gift of my presence, my love, my prayers.
But too often these days my presence is insincere,
my love shallow, my prayers thin and frail.
I forget that you are here with them and with me.
I forget that in you, all things are possible.
I forget to rest, to trust, to depend on you.
Forgive me, God.

Remind me even as I pray, that you are already at work
in the lives of those around me.
Help me to remember that just as a seed is planted
in the dark, safe soil so that new life can grow,
seeds of a different sort are sown in us,
and may well give birth to hope, love, trust, and new life,
if only we allow them to be nourished by the gift
of your Spirit.
Such growth is not mine to direct or force or manage.

What am I to do, O God?
Perhaps I am simply to trust, even when I doubt
anything can grow in the poor, damaged soil of their lives.
Perhaps I am to reflect on the fact that I need you
as much as these others for whom I pray.
Hear my prayers, dear One, for all of us.
In the name of Christ, who came to earth
and chose to be one with us,
and knows us better than we know ourselves.

Amen.

This prayer is by Martha Carroll and can be found in Prayers of Christian Consolation.