Sunday, June 30, 2019

A Prayer

Father,

We are grateful to You for the many blessings that you grant us. This is especially true as we think about how often we fail You. But time and again, because of Your great mercy, You forgive us and once again bless us. And one way that You bless is by making us happy. You create situations that please us so. Life is not meant to be dour and somber over and over. You have created us to be happy. And You have made it possible for us to enjoy that happiness in many different ways.

But, Father, the happiness that we have experienced is so fleeting. It is so often a brief and fading thing. And the mundane, or even the dour and somber, takes over once again. We understand why this is. We live in a world cursed by sin. Everything within us and around us has been twisted by sin. And frankly, Father, sometimes it just gets hard.

But You have promised us that a day is coming when all of the curse of sin will be gone. Completely gone. Nothing will be twisted by sin. Everything will be made new and beautiful. And every day will be filled with overflowing happiness. Father, to be honest, we're not even sure what that means. We've never experienced anything like that. But it's what You have promised. So, we believe You. That day is coming.

But in the meantime, we are here. And sometimes it gets to feeling like it's just a bit much. So, Father, we look to You. What else can we do? We look to You to grant us the grace we need to continue to believe Your promise about that day, about that happy day, that is coming. Grant us the grace needed so that we can continue to hope. Your doing that will give us the ability to face each day; to enjoy the happy times that we experience because of Your grace and to push through the hard times by means of Your grace. And when we finally arrive at that happy day, we will give You blessing and honor and glory and might along with the rest of creation that You will have rescued. And so we pray, Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.