"Lord I pray that all my intentions, actions and operations may be ordered purely to the praise and service of your divine majesty". I pray this Ignatian prayer most days. It speaks to my desire in the moment of prayer that my life today would be lived mindful of my loving Father. Or, as I journaled recently...
"Lord, I really do ask that all my intentions actions and operations may be ordered purely to the service, praise and friendship of You. I invite you into my brain, my thinking, my decisions, into my speaking, body language, communication with others. My listening, understanding, discerning and connections. I invite you into my desires, my motivations. My prayer is that all I do today is done mindful of you, filled with you, to bring you joy, praise, to make you happy. I want that thought to be first in my mind, to be central to everything today to the deepest root and the outermost leaf. The seed and the fruit. The inspiration, motivation, the construction and doing, the completion and delivery filled, threaded and covered with You and what brings You joy."
My eye wandered to the bottom of the journal page - each page has a different verse printed at the bottom - "The joy of the Lord is your strength!" Nehemiah 8:10. I experienced a new interpretation of that verse. If I am seeking the Lord's joy in my decisions, conversations, actions etc, if I can take a moment to think "what would bring Him joy right now?" or talk with Him, "Father I love you and I want to be a source of joy for you" then I am far more likely to be strong in eg, watching my mouth, speaking life over people and situations etc than allowing negative stuff to flow (something that I have a tendency to default to even though I know better). So it is not just that my joy in God strengthens me, which it does. But also that the Lord's joy is a source of strength for me. The joy of the Lord, really is my strength.
This quote from Thomas Merton sums it up:
"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing."
(Emphasis mine)
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