Reading Psalm 20 I noticed this beautiful phrase. “May God remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.” As if God forgets! Also because of Christ, we don’t sacrifice the same way and for the same reason people in David’s time did. But the psalm spurred me on to think about, though God sees all, how we have trouble seeing and remembering our own sacrifices, especially smaller everyday ones. And they are the more crucial. This prayer, in asking God to remember, then is circular in that praying about these tiny sacrifices we might remember and see their true enormity. And be spurred on to more. May God remember our sacrifices that we may live more sacrificially.
May you, our God,
Remember our first ever throwing arms wide,
Releasing a favorite toy, a fear, or a grudge.
Or opening our hearts to unexpected love through a hug.
Recall for us those sacrifices.
For we cannot;
They’ve been too long and foreign ago. And small.
May you, our God,
Hear the words of defense
We spoke not,
The weapons we kept sheathed.
Hear our silence as words of trust,
Our tight lips as a shield of faith,
Recall for us those sacrifices.
For we cannot;
They’ve been too long and foreign ago. And infrequent.
May you, our God,
Call to mind the smiles etching our lips,
The gleam in black pupils,
The light in our countenances,
When your beauty unexpectedly broke,
Offerings of spontaneous praise.
Recall for us those sacrifices.
For we cannot;
They’ve been too long and foreign ago.
And ordinary.
May you, our God,
Forget not the tear we shed
For injustice, un-forgiveness, hate, and aloneness.
Re-mingle our tears with yours
That they may pave the way
For justice, forgiveness, love, and fellowship.
Recall for us those sacrifices.
For we cannot;
They’ve been too long and foreign ago.
And painful.
Oh God, may you:
Remember these our small, infrequent, ordinary, and painful
Sacrifices that they may please you.
Cause us to remember them as well.
That we may forget not to draw each breath as sacrificial beings.
Amen
My blogs Sunday Psalm: Praise to God who Gives us Life and A Mountain bike Ride to Remember When God Turns a Life of Ashes to Beautiful Redemption will help you recall God’s goodness also.
P.S. I’ve not written you for a couple of weeks. I finally attracted the COVID bug and it wrecked revenge on me. More than a harsh cold but much less than what COVID did to some 2.5 years ago. I likened it to limping around wrapped in gauze while coughing. I’m grateful to God for his healing. Thanks also for your faithful readership and friendship. My recent isolation made me all the more grateful for you, though I should be grateful anyway. I will continue to pray for your health.
yes ~ amen,… & so important!,… I think our “heart” needs to remember being childlike, and being “held in the arms of God”,… and “nourished in the right things”,… in this way we can turn away from the foolish (and self-righteous) involvements of “the churning world”,… simplicity (and just breathing) is such a relief!,… (and “so much better”),…
so sorry about your covid experience,… mine was very similar, and a few months ago,… happy to say the “getting better” may seem like a slow process, but it does continue and continue, until “the sun does shine again”,… blessings ~ & wishing you “all the best!”,… (-:
Thanks, GA. I’m getting stronger by the day. And thanks for that video. I did not post it here but it was really sweet and encouraging.
glad you’re feeling stronger,… I’ve just started taking “olive leaf” capsules (from Vitamin stores) again, which were very helpful to me a long time ago in dealing with “chronic fatigue”,… & I think they’re also helping this,…
I loved the Colorado wilderness “inspirational” connection in that video, and I recently let the maker know that I had sent it to you, and included a link to something you wrote recently,… she complimented your work,…
so nice!,… (-: