Tag: #prayer
Silence
In the sheer silence
You speak to me, loving God –
I breathe and listen.
(photo by: Carla A. Romarate-Knipel)
A New Year’s Day Prayer
It’s the first day of the new year, O God.
I thank you for the past year – with all its
…blessings, hardships, and challenges.
I thank you that you were with me
the whole time.
Even in the darker days, your Light
shone
… to illuminate my path,
… to warm my heart,
and lead me forward.
Now here I am,
at the beginning of a
new year.
May I go through this day and this year,
with confidence
in your everlasting, unconditional
love.
May I look up to You, who look upon me with
favor,
not because I am perfect, but because you are
perfect
and by my faith in Jesus, you have made me your
child.
Send me forth then into this new year, into your
world,
with hope and strength
to be your living, breathing blessing
to everyone I meet on this path,
journeying together…
to the future that you have prepared
for all your beloved children,
with faith, hope and love.
In the name of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega,
the Author of my beginnings and endings.
Amen.
Copyright 2022
Morning Prayer
Good morning, dear God!
The sun has greeted you already while my eyes were closed, my body still asleep.
In Ilonggo, I say, “Maayong Aga!” It sounds more soft, more tender when I say it out loud to you,
our Loving Creator – the source of life, language and love.
Thank you! “Salamat gid!”
Again, gratitude in Ilonggo glides out of my lips like honey dripping with sweetness.
I say “Salamat, thank you, gracias, merci,” for a new day, so full of possibilities…
you and me, together –
walking through it, hand in hand, with love.
May I not let go of your hand, nor lose sight of you, and take off towards another direction.
Please help me to trust you every step of the way, even with all that’s going on in my life and in this world that are driving me to be in doubt and mired in despair.
Remind me of this “Salamat” moment, the peace and joy and quiet with you before I rose from sleep to meet the fevered demands of the day.
May this memory be a gift that I carry in my heart to give me strength, come what may.
So be it.
Salamat gid!
In the name of Yeshua, the Messiah.
Amen.
Good Friday haiku
My grandma said, “hush,”
Today God is dead, be still –
Weep, lament and pray.
Heart Prayer
A haiku for the first day of National Poetry month
Streams of water flow
I watch in grateful silence,
praying with my heart.
- calayagusrk
Prayer – Awe
Dear God,
Let me not forget this quiet moments of gratitude and awe in your holy presence. Let me go through this day with eyes wide open, ready to be in awe of the beauty and goodness in me and around me today. Let me be in awe of what goes unnoticed, a leaf, a fallen branch, a bud waiting to flower...and by your grace, in these moments, let me feel your presence, take me by the hand. In the name of Yeshua, who calmed the storm and fed the hungry multitude. Amen.
Recognizing my voice
It’s February 1, 2021. I haven’t been sharing my poetry, prayers and prose here in my blog for awhile. It has been a difficult November, December and January for me because of my husband’s hospitalizations. But I haven’t stopped writing using pen and paper. The act of writing has become a prayer. In my lowest moments, it helped to keep me afloat. Today I decided to come back to this online space and share some of what I have written in the past few months and hope it will bring some joy to you, my dear Reader.
Someone once encouraged me to find my voice. By voice I think the person meant who I am and how do I sound that is distinctively me. I didn’t really think about voice in that way. Yes, I love to talk, sing and listen to myself talk (ask my husband!). But I haven’t really spent time in self-reflection and listen more intentionally to who I am, especially as a writer. Today I gained more clarity about my voice, especially as a writer. The way I came to this recognition was in the midst of listening to a presentation of an author in the Writing For Your Life Conference. This was an online conference in November 2020. I was seated in our dining room viewing the presentation on my laptop. I had an epiphany: God has given me a joyful, “don’t-take-yourself-so-seriously,” earthy, “dance-in-the-rain person” voice, who sounds like a “faith-seeking- understanding” kind of woman-pastor academic willing to learn how to speak the languages beyond the confines of academia, exploring the many worlds that brim with wisdom and resisting the urge to be stuck in stale, overused words swarming online.
Prayer
Start the day gently
...tiptoe into it with prayer,
Embrace with gratitude.
Welcome it with gladness.
Smile at it like a friend.
Copyright 2020
Carla Romarate-Knipel
Choose Joy: Poems, Prayers and Prose 