Autumn W

“Morning Prayer Gregory of Nazianzus (329–390) ☙ 15 As the sun rises, I lift my hand to you, O God, for you to determine my path. Please control my passions. Help me stand firm in your ways and live this day for you. Allow no dark words, no sin-filled acts, no base thoughts even to enter my life. Rather, watch over all my internal actions so that I may truly keep my vow to you. Please keep me from bringing shame to myself or, more importantly, to your people. Indeed, let your will be done through the grace that you give to me. Amen.”
― Jonathan W. Arnold, Cloud of Witnesses: A Treasury of Prayers and Petitions through the Ages

“The joy of the Lord is not a ticket to be purchased by our fasts. He is always good.”
― Esau McCaulley, Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal

“When I am forced to wait, I grow. My patience, perseverance, and longing for God deepen. I learn to loosen my grip on control as I recognize, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, that no amount of righteous living can bring God’s plans into fruition. He brings them in his own time and in his own way.”
― Bette Dickinson, Making Room in Advent: 25 Devotions for a Season of Wonder

“One of the biggest mistakes we’ve made in the modern church is to reimagine spiritual maturity as the need to confess less. The unspoken assumption is, “As I ascend in relationship with God, I confess less because I have less to confess.” True spiritual maturity, though, is the opposite. It’s not an ascension; it’s an archaeological dig as we discover layer after layer of what was in us all along. Spiritual maturity means more confession, not less. Maturity is discovering the depths of my personal brand of fallenness and the depths to which God’s grace has really penetrated, even without me knowing it.”
― Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer