September Prayers | A New Thing
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Dear Friends,
September marks the beginning of so much newness. I am holding many dear friends and family members close as they settle into new homes, new cities, new schools, new jobs, new churches! And like so many things in life, the emotions involved are complex: fear and insecurities, hope and excitement all mixed up together. What new thing is happening in your life this month? Perhaps it might be a new practice or a role you’ve taken on. Let’s together let the God of all constancy and comfort care for us and those we love during this season of change.
-Christy Yates, Associate Director
A Blessing for a New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
-John O’Donohue