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Gracious God, you bring springtime waters that renew the earth. We thank you for the lakes and rivers, ponds and lakes, headwaters and aquifers. From the Red Sea of Exodus to the font of our baptisms, we praise you for the way that you have used water throughout the ages to bear your redemptive purposes. In this day, rain your love upon us. Fill us with forgiveness, grace, and a generosity of spirit. Open our free-flowing response so that we might channel your goodness and gifts to others. Through Christ, Amen.

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I offer the following prayer for you to use today as you pray at mealtime.

God of all, you have richly blessed creation with wondrous diversity. Thank you for the bounty of food to which we have access and can enjoy. Bless the food upon this table so that it might strengthen our bodies and allow us to celebrate differences. Through Jesus, amen. 

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Good and gracious God, help me stay active and tend the garden that is my faith. Keep me ever aware of your love and the claim that it has on my living. Guide the way that I relate to others so that my actions, words, and thoughts might reflect your grace, hospitality, and forgiveness. Empower me to participate in the creative and redemptive work of your kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2020. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God, I thank you for your blessing and presence in my life. The gift of faith that you have given me is precious and fragile. So much in this world threatens its growth and its potential to bear fruit. Guard me and strengthen me in your grace and love so that I might withstand the challenges and threats to my spirit. Give me the wisdom to tend my soul each day in prayer and devotion to you. Embolden my response so that I live my life with openness and trust. Send me out with renewed zeal to care for others. Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2020. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God, you provide for all creation. Make me aware today of both your care and provision. Each breath I take comes as a gift. Each occurrence of shelter, food, warmth, family, and protection come as blessings. As I am grateful for these things, make me aware of those who don’t have. Empower generosity within me so that I might share what I have with others. Let me be a conduit of your grace and love so that others might sing your praises. Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2020. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God, be present to me in the worn out and broken places of my life. Forgive me where I have not loved or cared for others. Renew my worn-out spirit so that I might find new strength to live as you would have me live. Guide me anew in the paths of your grace so that I might participate in your justice and peace. Through Christ, Amen.

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 Permission granted to share today's content with family and friends.  Copyrighted 2020. Walt Lichtenberger

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Gracious God, let me not hide your light or love. Give me the courage to shine brightly so that others might know of your care for them. Shine your grace, love, and forgiveness through me. Through Christ, Amen. 

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Gracious God, sometimes the night is scary. Darkness hides things. We can’t always see a clear path. Fear enters our hearts and we shut down. Shine your light of love in our night. Brighten the space around our hearts so that we might find the wisdom and courage to open up beyond ourselves. Make us instruments of your light so that others might know of your love and care. Through the Light of Jesus 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,

I thank you for your blessing and presence in my life. The gift of faith that you have given me is precious and fragile. So much in this world threatens its growth and its potential to bear fruit. Guard and strengthen me in your grace and love so that I might withstand the challenges and threats to my spirit. Give me the wisdom to tend my soul each day in prayer and devotion to you. Embolden my response so that I live my life with openness and trust. Send me out with renewed zeal to care for others.

Through Christ, Amen. 

---

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

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Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home

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It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon.

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Good and gracious God, 

help me stay active and tend the garden that is my faith. Keep me ever aware of your love and the claim that it has on my living. Guide the way that I relate to others so that my actions, words, and thoughts might reflect your grace, hospitality, and forgiveness. Empower me to participate in the creative and redemptive work of your Kingdom.

Through Jesus Christ, Amen. 

---

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

---

Did you like today’s prayer?

It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. There are two ways that you can get your copy. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon. If you prefer, you can also receive the content through an online devotional. Please note: if you buy the book, you receive the online devotional as a bonus.

Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home

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---

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You can use the following prayer today as you pray at mealtime.  

God of all,

you have richly blessed creation with wondrous diversity. Thank you for the bounty of food to which we have access and which we can enjoy. Bless the food upon this table so that it might strengthen our bodies and allow us to celebrate differences.

Through Jesus, Amen.   

---

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

---

Did you like today’s prayer?

It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. There are two ways that you can get your copy. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon. If you prefer, you can also receive the content through an online devotional. Please note: if you buy the book, you receive the online devotional as a bonus.

Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home

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---

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Gracious God,

you bring springtime waters that renew the earth. We thank you for the lakes and rivers, ponds and creeks, headwaters and aquifers. From the Red Sea of Exodus to the font of our baptisms, we praise you for the way that you have used water throughout the ages to bear your redemptive purposes. In this day, rain your love upon us. Fill us with forgiveness, grace, and a generosity of spirit. Open our free-flowing response so that we might channel your goodness and gifts to others.

Through Christ, Amen. 

---

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

---

Did you like today’s prayer?

It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. There are two ways that you can get your copy. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon. If you prefer, you can also receive the content through an online devotional. Please note: if you buy the book, you receive the online devotional as a bonus.

Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home

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Gracious God,

the source of abundance and diversity, I thank you for your many blessings in my life. Feed me this day with an abiding sense of gratitude. Let me experience life as a precious gift. Give me a healthy sense of humility so that I back away from a sense of entitlement and privilege. Make me generous so that I share rather than hoard what you have given to me. Help me to put my life into proper balance so that I might relate to others with the same kind of love that you have showered upon me. In the process of my grateful living might I bear and bring delight and joy to others.

Through Christ, Amen.  

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

---

Did you like today’s prayer?

It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. There are two ways that you can get your copy. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon. If you prefer, you can also receive the content through an online devotional. Please note: if you buy the book, you receive the online devotional as a bonus.

Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home

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Gracious God,

you surprise me. Sometimes in the strangest places and oddest times, I capture glimpses of your love and grace. When I least expect it, you bring a smile to my heart, and I’m filled with joy. At other times, when I try to conjure up your presence with religious thoughts and incantations, it seems like you are nowhere around. You elude my control. It appears that you refuse to play by my rules and follow my carefully laid plans and manipulations. Forgive my blasphemous attempts to harness your power for selfish desires. Enable me to trust in your presence and providence. Open my spirit so that I am available for your purposes and direction. Remind me that I’m not and I don’t need to be the center of the universe. Redirect my energies and efforts outward so that I may be found in the places of hurt, struggle, and restlessness. In the unlikely places of this world and my soul, let me discover you anew.

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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Did you like today’s prayer?

It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. There are two ways that you can get your copy. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon. If you prefer, you can also receive the content through an online devotional. Please note: if you buy the book, you receive the online devotional as a bonus.

Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home

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Gracious God,

your Kingdom continues to grow around me. Give me the vision to see and delight in it. Give me the courage to participate in your love and grace.

Through Jesus 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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Did you like today’s prayer?

It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. There are two ways that you can get your copy. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon. If you prefer, you can also receive the content through an online devotional. Please note: if you buy the book, you receive the online devotional as a bonus.

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Ash Wednesday - 2020

Gracious God,

I rush through most days like a chicken without a head! Life is busy. There is so much to do; so much that I must do. This confusion and kerfuffle have allowed me to buy into the lie that I alone am responsible for what I have. I have earned the blessings of my life, and it is my every right to keep every blessing close at hand. Give me the wisdom today to see the foolishness in such thinking. Help me to stop, breathe, and be grateful. Increase humility within me so that I might let go of misdirected entitlement and privilege. Forgive my blasphemy of control and stinginess. Create within me a generosity that imitates the love that Jesus has for all people. Redirect my doing so that it is less frenzied and more focused. Teach me to be your child.

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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Did you like today’s prayer?

It comes from Walt’s new book - Backyard Parables: Discovering Wisdom Close to Home. There are two ways that you can get your copy. Books can be purchased on this website or through Amazon. If you prefer, you can also receive the content through an online devotional. Please note: if you buy the book, you receive the online devotional as a bonus.

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Creative God,

underneath the image I project to the world, there are a bunch of insecurities, fears, and worries.  Give me the strength today to trust in you. Allow your love to push away the things that keep me from you. In their place, allow your grace to fill me up with new courage, wisdom, and focus.  Make me bold in my response to you as I reach out to help and love others.

Through Jesus, 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,

make me ready to welcome your coming.  Prepare in my heart space for love, kindness, forgiveness, and humility. 

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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Enduring God,

you are the shelter of my life. Protect me from the storms that rage outside my window and within my heart. Let me find in you the courage to push back my fears. Renewed in my strength, inspire me to provide shelter and comfort to others. Through Jesus, amen.

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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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