A Prayer To Proceed Safely and Well With Reopening Plans

In various places where vaccination rates are doing well and infection rates are going down, plans are being made for how to bring societies out of the pandemic in a safe and prosperous way.   In England as of a couple of days ago, hugging loved ones is allowed along with other activities that were previously deemed unsafe.  I think it's time I flew overseas - well, maybe with a stop in Ontario to hug my dear mom first!!!  We've given each other lots of cyber hugs but it's just not the same.

Well, before I head too far down the "hugging" rabbit hole let me get back to what I was actually thinking about today and that is safe plans - those governments are putting together going forward during times of pandemic recovery and plans that God has for us that would do us so much good to know and follow.

For many years in recovery meeting circles we have affirmed these words from week to week:

My life is of great beauty and infinite value.  God has a plan for my life that is meaningful, purposeful and joyful.  There is a work for me to do today that will bless others and give me deep satisfaction.

These words are based on some familiar words in the Bible such as these – there are many but these are some of the most familiar.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Psalm 37:4, Matthew 16:25, Matthew 6:33

We all have long established patterns of behaviour that we would describe as “our way of doing things.” We do things in certain ways at certain times because we think they help us meet important needs in our lives and avoid pain.  But at various times these ways of thinking and behaving get challenged in us. We’ve certainly been made aware of some of those with what we’ve had to do and not do since last March, haven’t we?

Well Lord today we don’t want to just know that it’s a good thing to trust in You with all our hearts but we want to affirm that we are going to do that today.  Here we all, all that we know and don’t know;  all that we like and don’t like;  all that we long for and all that we never want to experience again.  We place our trust in You God in every area of our lives, with all of our heart. 

We are very tempted to do things as we know and as we are familiar with but we pause and commit ourselves to not depending on our own understanding today.  We don’t know enough but You do.  We understand some things but not in their true and complete context because only You have that perspective and so our own understanding is a faulty basis for building our path forward.  We admit that. 

Help us to truly surrender our thinking to Your guidance and Your word over and over again.  We are very prone to moving back into the lie that we know and we can figure things out.  We ask You, Holy Spirit to make us conscious over and over again when we move in that direction and give us humility and courage to surrender once more to God’s heart for us, the God who has already told us plainly: 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11

We can’t do a better job of praying about this than these words in Psalm 139:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24

So today, let’s “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”  Psalm 37:4, Matthew 6:33