“Gather Me Now” (a prayer [for spiritual formation] by Ted Loder)

shattered sanctuary.jpegO God,
gather me now
to be with you
as you are with me.

Soothe my tiredness;
quiet by fretfulness;

curb my aimlessness;
receive my compulsiveness;
let me be easy for a moment.

O Lord, release me from the fears
and guilts which grip me so tightly;
from the expectations and opinions
which I so tightly grip,
that I may be open to receiving,
to learn something refreshingly different.

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

Forgive me for claiming so much for myself that I leave no room for gratitude;
for confusing exercises in self-importance with acceptance of self-worth;
for complaining so much of my burdens that I become a burden;
for competing against others so insidiously that I stifle celebrating them
and receiving your blessing through their gifts.

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

Keep me in touch with myself,
with my needs,
my anxieties,
my angers,
my pains,
my corruptions,
that I may claim them as my own rather than blame them on someone else.

O Lord, deepen my wounds into wisdom;
shape my weakness into compassion;
gentle my envy into enjoyment,
My fear into trust,
my guilt into honesty,
my accusing finger into tender ones.

O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

–Loder, Guerillas of Grace

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