Some prayers from “Meditations and Prayers” by Eddie Askew

(Retired International Director of the Mission’s worldwide operations)

 
A meditation from Matthew 13:10-16
Lord in the quietness reach out and hold me.

Draw me gently into Your presence

and in the loving silence at your heart

attune my ears to hear the sounds I never listen to.

The harmony that lies in You

The discord in the world You’ve put me in

The laughter and the tears in other people’s lives.

Make me more sensitive to other’s needs.

Sometimes, I hear the words that others speak

but fail to grasp their meaning.

Help me to hear the worry hidden in a throw-away remark.

the fear wrapped in a joke, the insecurity behind unbending dogmatism.

Let me identify the cry for help so casually expressed.

Help me to listen more and think and think

before I speak and then to think again.

And Lord teach me to hear sincerity in those who see and say things.

in a different way.

Give me grace not to condemn or criticize but first to search for common ground,

and grasp the things that draw us all together,

not to concentrate on what holds us apart.

Help me to take the richness of another’s thought and hold it

precious as my own

Above all, may I hear the gentle echoes of your love

reflected all around me.

Give me the joy of listening to your voice,

the quiet rustle as your arms enfold me.

 
A meditation on Matthew 05:11-15
Lord there are times when I’m tempted to give up.

When all the pressure of my world darken my vision, wear down my will.

And footweary and head low, I find it all a burden to bear.

Standing against the powers of age seems futile.

Don Quixote without a donkey.

My world looks dark my faith a dusty relic,

seen dimly through the smeared glass of a museum showcase long unvisited.

A prehistoric curiosity. Hard to believe those bones were once the stuff of life.

And yet within the dark, the candles glow, frail flames flickering light.

Will-o-the wisps of faith, now here, now there, but leading to fulfillment.

As one seems quenched another glows, sparks into light.

Darkness is distanced and, in light’s small flame, hope warms its hands.

And I am strengthened to renew my trust in live, alive and well.

In time. In God’s own time, the flames will grow

And coalesce into a dawn when earth is filled with light from end to end.

Meanwhile Lord, I’ll gather up my courage for one more day.

Knowing that weak though I am – and foolish Lord, but let’s dwell on that

You are at work, blowing the ashes of my life into a new flame.