One Word
This winter on The Daily Pattern we’re in a series called One Word. Each day we take one word – a feeling or circumstance – and bring a word from God to it. Let the Word of God speak to your life.
Invocation
Make the sign of the cross, and say,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5) O Lord, I am lowly and humble. You alone are my inheritance. Amen.
Word: Hebrews 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Meditation
Change by Anna Jacob
I am a creature of habit. The thought of change can overwhelm me, often making me anxious. So, I avoid it. Or at least I like to think that I do. I keep to my routines. I resist buying new technology. I drive the same streets. I shop at the same stores. I buy the same brands. All in a feeble attempt to keep things the same. I crave that comfort. I crave that sense of control that it gives me. But how much control do I really have?
No matter how much I avoid it, change is always able to find me. Over the past year, so many areas of my life have changed, in big and little ways, in good and bad ways. Changes at work. Changes at church. Changes within my family. And yes, I even purchased a new phone, something I had been postponing for months.
Over the years, I have come to realize that the changes that worry me the most are the ones that happen with little time to process or more specifically the ones I cannot control. And who doesn’t want to have control?
Whether it brings comfort or power or a sense of security, controlling change (or avoiding it) is a part of everyone’s life. Changes can come in many forms, and not all changes are objectively bad. (I know for most people new phones and new technology are an exciting change.) Others even thrive and seek out change.
Yet those moments of change that I struggle with, I know I can turn to my God, the one who does not change. I can anchor myself in the knowledge that he is my constant, my true comfort and security in an ever-changing world. I turn to him and his holy words.
In times of change, instead of looking to control the situation, I turn to God and acknowledge that his love for me will not change. The truth that he sent his only Son will not change. That my sins are forgiven and that will not change.
God never changes. He is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Lord, thank you for your consistency and stability. In an ever-changing world, I depend on you. Continue to be with me as I face those changes I can control and those that I cannot. In your name. Amen.
Prayer for Family
· For my immediate family (parents, spouse, siblings).
· For extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents)
· For close friends that are as family to me.
· For those who don’t have families, or whose families are broken.
· For forgiveness and reconciliation where there is division in my family.
· For provision where there is need in my family.
· For God to be the foundation, and the cross the center of my family.
· For a generation yet unborn, future members of our family.
Closing Prayer
O Lord and King, your Kingdom comes even without our prayer. But we pray that it would also come among us. We are desperate for your reign and rule, for all we see is rebellion. Come into my heart, my home, my family, my work, my church, my community. Rule with justice and with mercy. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.