Prayers for the Chaos & Grace of Everyday Life

by Shelly Erickson

I received a book from a dear friend recently and it has God's fingerprints all over it. God knew just what I was needing and he delivered it through my friend - what a treasure. The book is titled, Ash and Starlight - prayers for the chaos & grace of everyday life, by Arianne Braithwaite Lehn. What a great title and isn't that truly the gift of life - chaos and grace?!?

I am choosing to share one of her prayers with you this week titled, "When I'm in the messy middle of something." I have been reading this prayer (line by line, word by word), listening and praying this prayer over and over. I am choosing to share her words with you today because I believe they are relevant to each of us. The words are sweet to hear and they speak holy truths. I hope you will pray this prayer with me and allow God to speak to you in just the way you need to hear from God.

When I'm in the messy middle of something

Slow and Steady God,

Things have changed,
and I know they're not done changing.

I'm here on your potter's wheel
where you're shaping my essence into
something new with
guiding loving hands.

But this messy middle time...
it's painful, and scary, and hard.
The wheel spins and my world swirls
and all I want is to see the end result.

Becoming the broken-down
lump of clay was a hard stage too, I might add.

Help me, God,
commit to the process,
not the outcome.

Help me embrace this messy middle time
when I must make space 
for shifts and questions.

Change my mantras from
clarity to exciting ambiguity,
definition to open-endedness,
certainty to awe-filled surprises,
timeline to trust.

Help me believe, Lord,
that even what seems
to be negative change
makes room in me and around me
for something fresh (and good).

You hum a tune of possibility
and potential as you work.
With each move of your hand, 
you mutter,
"Beautiful."
"Beautiful."
"Beautiful."

And, you smile.

Amen.
    
"Can I not do with you...just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand..."
Jeremiah 18:6

You turn things upside down,
    as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
    “You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
    “You know nothing”?
Isaiah 29:16 

And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
    We are the clay, and you are the potter.
    We all are formed by your hand.
Isaiah 64:8

With you on this messy, exciting and holy journey.

Shelly

Shelly Erickson
Director of Children's Ministry/Birth to Pre-K