Beginning to Begin Again . . .

O God, help me to believe in beginnings


and in my beginning again,


no matter how often I’ve failed before.



Help me to make beginnings:


to begin going out of my weary mind


into fresh dreams,


daring to make my own bold tracks


in the land of now;


to begin forgiving


that I may experience mercy,

to begin questioning the unquestionable


that I may know truth


to begin disciplining


that I may create beauty;


to begin sacrificing


that I may make peace;


to begin loving 


that I may realize joy.



Help me to be a beginning to others,


to be a singer to the songless,


a storyteller to the aimless,


a befriender of the friendless;


to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,


of assurance for the doubting,


of reconciliation for the divided;


to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,


of comfort for the sorrowing,


of friendship for the forgotten,

to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,


of sweetness for the soured,


of gentleness for the angry,


of wholeness for the broken,


of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.



Help me to believe in beginnings,


to make a beginning,


to be a beginning,


so that I may not just grow old,
 

but grow new


each day of this wild, amazing life


you call me to live


with the passion of Jesus Christ.

Taken from Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder