Pre-Lenten Poem Ponderings . . .

Gather Me to Be with You

O God, gather me now to be with you as you are with me.
Soothe my tiredness; quiet my fretfulness; curb my aimlessness;
Relieve my compulsiveness; let me be easy for a moment.

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O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

Forgive me for claiming so much for myself that I leave

no room for gratitude; for confusing exercises in self-importance

with acceptance of self-worth;

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For complaining so much of my burdens that I become a burden;
For competing against others so insidiously that I stifle celebrating
them and receiving your blessing through their gifts.

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O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

Keep me in touch with myself, with my needs,

my anxieties, my angers, my pains, my corruptions,

that I may claim them as my own rather than

blame them on someone else.

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O God, deepen my wounds into wisdom; shape my weaknesses

into compassion; gentle my envy into enjoyment,

my fear into trust, my guilt into honesty,

my accusing fingers into tickling ones.

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O God, gather me to be with you as you are with me.

(From: Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder)