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Gracious God,

cultivate the good soil of my life. Strengthen me this day in your love, grace, forgiveness, and care so that I might bear these fruits in my living with others.

Through Jesus Christ, Amen.

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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God of things big and small,

thank you for the signs of growth that can be seen in our life. Open my eyes and heart so that I might perceive your goodness and presence in each day. Let me seek with diligence so that I might discover what is hiding from my view. Give me confidence in your abundance so that I might be generous in each part of my life.

Through Christ, Amen.

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God of life and love,

I often find my life unbalanced. I give great weight to unimportant things while neglecting what matters the most. I seek riches and prestige - mere trinkets in the grand scheme of things - while I ignore relationships and life's intangibles. Lord prioritize me. Guide me according to your rule of love and grace. Give me the wisdom and courage to know and seek your purpose above all else. Let me find in your shalom the balance that I need.

Through Christ, Amen.

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God,

you created community and friendships in which we live our lives. Thank you for those we care about and with which we share our lives. Help us to find and make the time to be with them. Strengthen us in the power of hospitality and forgiveness so that we might be generous with our love, companionship, and patience. In the midst of our busy lives, open our circle to include more people in the group that we count as ‘friends.’ 

Through Christ, Amen.  

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Blessed and Merry Christmas to you and your family….

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God,

burn within my heart with the flames of your compassion. Ignite within my spirit a passion for your life. Let me see by your light the truth of your love and care for all people. Illumine a space in the darkness of fear, prejudice, hatred, and separation so that I might be able to see a path toward peace, reconciliation, and hospitality.

Through Christ, Amen.  

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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God of Transformation,

there are parts of my life that are rotten and decaying. Although I try my best, I can’t escape the reality of my brokenness. With you, O God, there is hope. Through your great love for me, I am created anew. Your love and grace are always at work in my life, bringing about change and resurrection. Help me to recognize your presence and action in this day so that I might participate in what you are doing. Guide my focus and efforts beyond myself and let me be an instrument of your transformation in the lives of others.

Through Christ, Amen.

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God,

let me participate in your work of transformation. Help me to identify those things in my life that prevent me from experiencing your love and joy. Let me see the rust and decay of my biases, prejudices, and shortcomings that separate me from others. Give me the courage to move beyond nostalgia and the past so that I may be more present at this moment. Strengthen me to respond in new ways to your life in my life. Guide the hard work of clearing and discarding so that I might plant and plan for what is to come.

Through Christ, Amen.

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God,

You created me out of your great love. You shaped my being with great care and precision. I am unique. In all of creation, there is not another body like mine. And yet, I share a connection with all creation. All life bears the mark of its Creator. All life is wonderfully made. Give me the wisdom in my daily walk to appreciate and wonder, honor and respect all life. Strengthen me as a creature of clay to respond as a caretaker of all that you have made.

Through Christ, Amen.

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God,

awaken my senses. At the start of this day, open within me a space for your creative spirit. Fill me with your love so that I might be a vessel to carry your compassion, hospitality, kindness, and grace to others. Refresh me anew for work in your kingdom in which I will live, work, travel, and play today.

Through Christ, Amen.

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Today’s prayer comes from Walt’s upcoming book - Backyard Parables - scheduled to be released in February 2020. Stay tuned for more information.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

Mid-week prayer- November 13

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Resurrection and the life,

come and enter this heart of mine.  With each beat of my heart, tune my heart to your love.  Turn my heart inside out so that I might love others with the same intensity that you love me.

Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

Mid-week Prayer for You: November 6

A Prayer for Perpetual Light

O Come Perpetual Light and shine on those who live in darkness. 

Illumine the dark and scary places of this world with the brightness of your love.  As a single candle flickers in the night and casts light that pushes back the night, come to us.  Push back the sorrow and despair of our shadowed existence with your great light. 

Through the Resurrected Body of Christ, Amen.

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Resurrection and the life,

when you appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they didn’t recognize you.  Even after you opened the scriptures to them, they remained in the dark. I know how they feel for I have been down that road a time or two.   It is terrible to be in your presence and yet not see, not know that you are near. How limited is my sight, my understanding! I miss so much.   You did not abandon them or require that they got all the right answers – instead, you continued to walk with them. Continue to walk with me through the murkiness of my limitations.  At the end of the day, give me the courage to invite you in.

Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Resurrection and the life,

broaden my vision, O God, so that I may not only see the need of others but also their faces.  Let me ask others of their dreams. Help me to care for their children and calm their fears. Strengthen me so that I may give what is needed and in so doing be an active part of the reconciling work of Easter.  Bring my neighbor and me out of our respective tombs together.

Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God, though you have wonderfully created each of us, we are not without our flaws.  Some of these flaws are visible, and some are not.  Often, we seek to hide and bury deep those experiences which have left their marks.  Help us to learn the lessons that our bodies have to teach us.  Allow us to embody the wisdom within each of us.  Give us the strength to embrace our struggles with the sure and certain knowledge that you continue to love us no matter what and that you are ever near.  Through Christ, Amen. 

 Amen. 

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God,

as the sun dances between the crimson maples and golden oaks it is easy to sing of your wonder and the beauty of your creation.  Praise to you, Creator of all life!  In the changing of seasons, open my heart to seek beyond the beauty to experience your presence and the work of your hands in the moments and places that lack the luster of a brilliant fall day.  Open my heart with each beat that I may give thanks for all, for you, for this day in all its wonder and challenge.  Amen. 

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Resurrection and the life,

in the breaking of the bread, you made yourself known to your disciples in Emmaus.  Their eyes were opened to the power of your Risen presence to deliver them from their despair.  Hope was renewed and strengthened at their table. Open our eyes that we might see you among us.  Renew our hope so that we might reach beyond ourselves as a community to extend your love and hospitality to others.

Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Resurrection and the life,

I dangle my feet off the edge of my bed.  Oh, it would be so good to swing them back into bed and go back to sleep.  The mornings can come so quickly especially when we find it difficult to fall asleep.  But we must rise, we cannot stay asleep for there are things for us to do, a life for us to live.  Strengthen us for the rising and for the living so that our day might be guided and shaped by your eternal love.  Let me love my neighbor and care for your creation. Allow me the wisdom and courage to make the very most of this day for the sake of those beyond me.

Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Resurrection and the life,

there are times when doubt is easier than faith.  When life is hard and the struggle seems too great to struggle, I cry out to you.  Silence is an unwelcome response. It is at those times when my faith stretches and my whole soul trembles.  Like a lost child, I am vulnerable and scared. Shelter me in the silence and the shadows of my doubt. Strengthen my feeble faith so that I might once again raise your praise with sure confidence.  

Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger

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Resurrection and the life,

come and enter this heart of mine.  With each beat of my heart, tune my heart to your love.  Turn my heart inside out so that I might love others with the same intensity that you love me.

Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2018. Walt Lichtenberger