Friday, April 10, 2009

A Good Friday Prayer

Good Morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! When I stepped outside this morning, clouds covered the sky, but I heard an airplane and looked up and I could see the lights of the jet under the clouds, which must have been very high. Now the sun is breaking through and it promises to be a very warm day. God is good!

Well, I put down my book long enough to take a walk yesterday, and I was really rewarded. It was a great day to walk, with cool breezes and very warm sun. I stopped at the first shelter to look at the baby gators, three of them, with Mama hidden in the cove, and just across the canal, a Hawk was calling and calling. When I looked closer, I saw that a baby hawk, almost as big as Mom was in another tree. Ma hawk was talking to the young'un and then she flew right close to it, so the feathers flew out. I watched for a few minutes, as the little drama played out, then walked on to the tower,

Just as I approached the tower, I saw an osprey hovering right above the roof! I hurried to look over the lake and watched as three ospreys circled the lake, with the one hovering three more times! I was so in awe of how God created these creatures who are able to hover in mid-air so beautifully! It was amazing!

Good Friday

We acknowledge, O Lord, that there is so little in us that is lovable. So often we are not lovely in our thoughts, in our words, or in our deeds, And yet You love us still, with a love that neither ebbs nor flows, a love that does not grow weary, but is constant year after year, age after age.

O God, may our hearts be opened to that love today. With bright skies above us, the fields and woods and gardens bursting with new life and beauty, how can we fail to respond? With the clear notes of bird songs challenging us to praise, with every lowly shrub and blooming tree catching new life and beauty, our hearts indeed would proclaim You Lord, and we would invite You to reign over us and make us truly Your own. May Your healing love invade our inmost hearts, healing sorrow, pain, frustration, defeat, and despair.

May this day create within us a love for You of stronger stuff than vague sentimentality-a love which seeks to know Your will and do it. So grant that this day of hallowed remembrance may be the beginning of a new way of life for each of us, a new kind of living that shall be the best answer to the confusion and to the challenge of evil in our day. This we ask in Jesus name.
Amen
-Peter Marshall

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs, and Happy Easter!
Amaryllis