Grant me the Serenity…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father!  First off, I want to send out a quick prayer of support for my wife Shannon.  She’s been dealing with a very difficult professional situation as of late that’s had her mind wrestling with her heart, and it’s taken a toll on her.  She’s an amazing lady Lord, with a giving and caring spirit that seems to know no end, but in some cases those wonderful qualities can make necessary decisions much more difficult.  Please send her Your Strength and Guidance to make the right decisions, and comfort her with the knowledge You’re with her.  Thank You.

Yesterday, I read a posting on one of my favorite Christian Blog Sites (Mothers On Mission) that brought to mind one of my favorite prayers.  It’s referred to as the Serenity Prayer and is attributed to a gentleman named Reinhold Niebuhr :

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

There’s that word Accept again!  You know Father, since You placed that focus in my heart it seems to just pop up all around me.  As You’re well aware, the plea “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…” is something I pray for on a regular basis.  The more my life seems to veer away from my control, the more I realize that much of what I struggle with never was mine to direct in the first place.

I’m getting there Lord… Thank You for bearing with me.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Well Lord, I didn’t exactly start the day on a stellar note.  As You well know, Shannon and I very seldom have any significant arguments.  We’re very much on-keel with each other, and any little disagreements we do have now and again are usually quickly and calmly worked out.

That wasn’t the case today however.

A simple misreading of a reaction to something I said led to tempers flaring on both sides, and a twenty minute excited exchange… Over basically nothing.

Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. – 2 Timothy 2:23-24

Ouch!  Yep, that pretty much describes our fight… foolish and stupid.  I stand convicted Lord, and am deeply ashamed.  Instead of listening for Your Guidance in that moment, I allowed my temper to shut myself off from You and caused unnecessary pain to someone I love deeply.

Heavenly Father, please help me focus my heart and mind on Your Voice in times of stress.  Help me not be quick to anger, and instead bring a level head and calm influence to situations that arise.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. – James 1:19-20

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Focus on Acceptance…

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!  First off, I want to thank You for another lovely weekend with my family and friends.  Date night with my wonderful wife Shannon on Saturday night was a great way to end the week, and although I ended up “under the weather” on Sunday, I was Blessed in that my family made sure I had the quiet time I needed to rest and recuperate.  I certainly wasn’t as productive as I had originally planned on being, but the downtime did help us all to recharge our batteries for the week ahead.

Today Lord, I want to delve further into my Focus Word (Accept) for the year and how it’s already affected my thoughts and actions.  It’s amazing to me, but since You placed that word in my heart I find it jumping into my head quite regularly.  For example, I had a situation this weekend where I was extremely uncomfortable with the way someone was acting in a public situation.  They weren’t doing anything wrong per-se, but it made me feel awkward all the same.

“You need to Accept them for who they are” I heard in the back of my head.

Fair enough.  As I said, they weren’t doing anything wrong and they certainly weren’t hurting me in any way.  I realized I had just taken it upon myself to feel uncomfortable at the way they were behaving, and was letting it affect my disposition.

Therefore, today’s statement of focus from my experience this weekend is :

I need to Accept that God has made each of us an individual who is unique and special.

Now please understand Father, this doesn’t mean I won’t stand up against people doing something morally or ethically wrong, or not confront evil wherever I see it.  I simply need to have more flexibility when dealing with differences in how Your Children act and interact with others.  You’ve made us all wonderfully individual and unique, and I’m going to work on celebrating those differences more.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Faster than a speeding bullet…

Dear Lord; Well Father, it never ceases to amaze me where my thoughts are led when I’m communing with You.  For whatever reason, this morning on my drive into the office I was thinking about how the news lately seems to be filled with nothing but tragedy and heartache, and the general despair and discord of our citizens.  Senseless shootings, hateful protests, skyrocketing unemployment, financial hardships, a rising crime rate, natural disasters, and the list goes on and on.  What the world needs I decided, is a Superhero.  Someone who can swoop in and inspire hope, bring some righteous justice and order to things, and act as a beacon for people to rally around.

“I gave you one.” You whispered.

So You did!  You gave us the single most impressive “Superhero” that the world could possibly know; Your Son, Jesus Christ.

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.  – Acts 10:38

Wow… Even the fictional “man of steel” himself didn’t wield the Power of God.  What an amazing Hero and Role Model You’ve given us!

Ok, so if we’ve been given the Ultimate Hero why are so many people in such despair??  Unfortunately, it’s because those folks just don’t know Him, and allow themselves to focus on earthly worries instead of allowing Him to lighten their burdens.  If all of us use the “Bat-Phone” of prayer to call Him into our lives, the day (as well as our eternal souls) would indeed be Saved.

So as Christians, here’s our chance to be Heroes as well.  If we live by His example, let God’s Light show through our words and actions, and share the Praises of His Good Works then we can bring that amazing power to more people.  We can change the world, through Him.

Now that’s power.

Amen.

~Phather Phil

And My Focus Word is…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Today Lord, I want to follow up on a discussion we had earlier this week where we talked about finding my “One Word Focus” for this year.  You and I have been “chatting” a lot about this over the last few days, and my mind’s been flooded with so many words describing parts of myself that I know could use work.  Throughout all those deliberations and prayers however, I keep hearing one word in the midst of it all :

Accept.

Ok, message received… “Accept” it is.  I’ll admit, it’s not quite along the lines of what I had originally conceived when I started down this path but I’ll Accept Your Guidance :-).

So this morning, I started contemplating what the word Accept means in relation to my life, and the more I thought about it the bigger the scope grew.  There are so many things that I currently Accept (and possibly shouldn’t), and so many more that I need to work on.  For example, as we discussed yesterday I need to work on the fact that my nature is to try and fix everyone’s problems, when obviously that’s not a realistic perspective.

I need to Accept that I’m not in control and that I can’t fix everything.

Wow… So, I’m starting to understand why you put this word in my heart Lord.  I guess there are more things in my life that I haven’t fully Accepted than I had originally thought.  This is a truly powerful word, and I thank You for seeding me with it.

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for instilling this focus in my heart and mind.  As I contemplate and pray about this direction over the coming year, please lead me to recognize and Accept all Your Truths and proceed with them in Your Love.  Amen.

~Phather Phil