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Education Ministry

Posted on September 16, 2004 ...

A Morning Prayer

O, that I may have one Perfect Day. Not a day free from trouble or a day in which everything goes my way, but a day wholly submitted unto You, my Lord. A day filled with the keen awareness of Your presence. That is the day I am longing for.

There are days when I catch a glimpse of it, there up ahead on the horizon of my trek through this life. I see it shining, beckoning me to draw near. At times, I feel as if I am approaching it; it seems larger, the details more defined. And then there are days when it is obscured; shrouded by the many distractions of my life. I am caught in this ebb and flow of living between earth and heaven. My heart longs for the spiritual, but my flesh claws at the material, not wanting to let it go. O Lord, create in me a distaste for carnal hors d'oeuvres, and increase my appetite for the spiritual main course.

Your Word, O Lord, is a cleansing rain when the smog of this world threatens to choke my view of this Perfect Day. It seems to me that many of Your saints have wrestled as I do, although I think they have gone much further than I. Will I ever be as close as they? I realize there is nothing in me that can make this day perfect. I can long for it and I can choose to submit myself to Your perfect will. But I know the Perfect Day is an unearned gift from You, and You will not give it until You know I am ready to receive it. Search my heart, O Lord, and expose my deficiencies. Cleanse me from the things that relegate me to the imperfect.

It is here that I am tempted to walk away, to give in to the suggestion of the evil one that I will never be able to receive that which You are wanting to give. That monster is drunk with the pleasure of yanking my attention away from You. It seems that it is when I draw closest to You that he is most determined to have his way with me. I do not understand, for Your Word promises that when I resist the devil, he will flee. Could it be that I have not yet fully resisted him? Perhaps I have not yet drawn as close to You as I ought. I beg You, Lord, run the scoundrel off and continue Your pursuit of me. Call me unto Your holy mountain. Invite me into Your tent.

Alas, this is a brand new day. I am a little more focused. I can see a little more clearly. It is still the morning. There are perhaps twelve more hours left in which I might sink back down into the sludge of my flesh. But right now, in this moment, I am standing with my face warmed by the glow of Your presence. Could it be that I am gaining ground? Could this be the start of the Perfect Day? The day is Yours to give. I am eager to receive it. Amen.