Category Archives: Daily Bread Devotional

Wilderness Places
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin of Independence, MO, USA

For the word of the Lord is upright,
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. -Psalm 33:4-5

During Lent, we will share a story to dwell on throughout the week with questions for reflection. This slow, repeated practice of sacred reading and reflection is an invitation to simplicity and deepening during the Lenten season.

Throughout scripture, some of the most important, transformational moments for our spiritual ancestors happened in wilderness places. The wilderness was a place people were driven to enter in exile, transition, and discernment. Ours seems to be a wilderness time. Many are observing that what once felt reliable, comfortable, familiar has slipped out of our grasp, and we can’t find a way to return to what we knew before. We are wandering in an unfamiliar landscape that at first gaze seems inhospitable. Like the Israelites, we cry out for sustenance in a strange land.

Each year that the season of Lent arrives, it seems to be an exact description of a prolonged condition experienced by many individuals and communities of faith. In his 2017 Address, President Veazey described this strange new landscape we find ourselves in, “The word of calling, hope, and possibility emerges from the reality that great change is happening in the world. And the rate of change is accelerating. This change includes how people view God, culture, finances, technology, politics, and religious institutions.”

Lenten Reflection Questions:

1. How do the stories of our biblical ancestors speak to us about the conditions in which we find ourselves now?
2. How have you experienced great change in the church, the world, and your own life? How does this season of change impact how we enter the Lenten season?

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

What We Need Is Here: An Invitation to the Lenten Season
Katie Harmon McLaughlin of Independence, MO, USA

Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. -Daniel 9:3

Walking through Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert, I gaze out at the vast, dusty expanse. Occasional cacti, palm trees, and the famous Joshua trees themselves are scattered throughout the landscape. Towering rock formations beckon from the horizon. Growing up in the densely wooded, rolling hills of Kentucky, I am in unfamiliar territory. The desert astounds and frightens me. It feels exposed, rugged, unrelenting, and captivating with a different kind of beauty than the landscape that formed me. The land, at first gaze, seems completely inhospitable. A trip to the park visitor center and a keen eye on the trail reveal that a surprising number of creatures and vegetation actually thrive in these conditions. I am a visitor in this stunning and unfamiliar place, so I hike with a heart in awe and then return to what is familiar.

Throughout scripture, some of the most important, transformational moments for our spiritual ancestors happened in wilderness places. The wilderness was a place people were driven to enter in exile, transition, and discernment. Ours seems to be a wilderness time. Many are observing that what once felt reliable, comfortable, familiar has slipped out of our grasp, and we can’t find a way to return to what we knew before. We are wandering in an unfamiliar landscape that at first gaze seems inhospitable. Like the Israelites, we cry out for sustenance in a strange land.

Each year as the season of Lent arrives, it seems to be an exact description of a prolonged condition experienced by many individuals and communities of faith. In his 2017 Address, President Veazey described this strange new landscape we find ourselves in, “The word of calling, hope, and possibility emerges from the reality that great change is happening in the world. And the rate of change is accelerating. This change includes how people view God, culture, finances, technology, politics, and religious institutions.”

We are quick to resist what we do not know, but there are gifts to discover here. We remember that the season of Lent is a critical formational opportunity to be steeped in the wisdom, depth, and integrity of Jesus that leads to new life. We try to bypass the wilderness places in our spiritual journey to get to the “good parts” like resurrection, but good things happen here, too! The Israelites receive enough manna for each day, the prophet Isaiah envisions a desert in full bloom, and after Jesus resists the temptations, he is comforted and cared for.

What if this Lent we rested for a while in this wilderness place to take a look around and appreciate what is here? What if we stopped trying to get through the wilderness to somewhere else and began to recognize the sacred abundance in unfamiliar places? What if being formed in the rhythm of Christ isn’t just about enduring the parts of the journey we’d rather avoid, but entering them deeply with an open and willing heart? Moving toward Jesus, the peaceful one, entails following him through the whole journey of transformation-and discovering in what we resist the deepest invitations to new life we have been seeking.

The poet Wendell Berry proclaims, “What we need is here.” This is my Lenten prayer this year. I am going to take a break from being on my way to somewhere better and rest a while in an unknown land. Appreciating where I am for what it is, I echo Berry’s invitation, “…and we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye, clear. What we need is here.”

Sit for a while in this wilderness place and join me. Take in the expansive view and let your soul settle in. Rest your gaze into what is unfamiliar and find delight in unexpected beauty. Notice the creatures, plants, flowers that call this place home. Ask yourself what you really need. Take delight in discovering what is enough. Find life in the Lenten wilderness.

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

The Struggle from the Cocoon
Joyce Bullion of Waipahu, HI, USA

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; God is their refuge in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and rescues them…because they take refuge in God. -Psalm 37:39-40, adapted

Many of us go through life wounded-physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We often have high expectations-dreams of getting married, perhaps having children, and a home with a yard and a white picket fence. When life does not turn out that way, disappointment twinges. We sometimes become disillusioned and skeptical of the blessings we have.

When we are transparent in our brokenness, light enters our wounds and we reflect an even stronger light. I have found if we give our pain to God, we are lifted and strengthened in our Lord and Savior. As we continue to praise God and pray for direction, our lives will be of service in love. Often our toughened scars strengthen us, and we are better able to help others as we share ourselves.

I heard a story of a man who found the cocoon of a butterfly. He decided to help the butterfly by snipping off the remaining bit of the cocoon with a pair of scissors. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The butterfly’s wings never did grow large enough to fly. It spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body. The struggle to leave the cocoon is nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, we would see no need to struggle. We would be immobilized. We need to take everything to God and let Divine light form and strengthen us.

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

God Is Here, There, Everywhere…and Especially with YOU
Gary Piper of Fort Gratiot, MI, USA

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. -Isaiah 54:10

There are times when amid the storms life throws at us we need to stand against the howling wind. Rain pounds on our faces, the roar of thunder echoes in our ears, and darkness is all around. We shout to the world our praises and thank God for the brightness of Divine presence.

Jesus promised in Matthew, if we tell others that we belong to him, he would tell God that we are followers of Jesus. When we are aware of God’s presence in our storms, God’s power increases our strength, and we experience Divine love and compassion.

Often my early response to finding myself floundering in one of life’s storms is to stand up and shout, “Okay, God, where are you?” But slowly over the years and the many storms I’ve experienced, I’ve learned to first identify God’s presence. Doing so doesn’t weaken the storm, but it certainly strengthens and brings comfort to me. Now with the current storm raging in my life, because I’ve already responded to God’s presence, there are times I find myself thinking I should be worrying and fretting rather than feeling this peace.

Just because there may be times you cannot see evidence of God’s presence in your life, it doesn’t mean God is absent. It simply means God chooses to work behind the scenes where the storm is most dangerous. It’s all the same to God. Here’s how the Psalmist puts it:

Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. -Psalm 139:7-12

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Transformed!
Michele McGrath of Huntington Beach, CA, USA

Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face, His clothes were filled with light. Peter broke in, “Master, this is a great moment! What would you think if I built three memorials here on the mountain-one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah?” -Matthew 17:1-4 The Message

I grew up going to camps at Camp Buckhorn in Idyllwild, California, which is literally at the mile-high elevation of 5,000 feet. No matter the location, however-a rented retreat center, a historic manor house, dormitories set amid rolling hills, cabins and tents at the seashore or prairie, lakeside or river-close, near the end of every family camp I’ve attended, there comes a time when those gathered confess a reluctance to leave the mountaintop experience to go back to the “real world.”

Gathering is an important part of our discipleship. Shared time together in community helps us develop our discipleship and cultivates safe space where we can awaken to the future God is calling into being.

But ultimately, we are called into the world God created, to embody and enact God’s shalom in the world. We are called not just to awaken and dream, but to move into the world to take risks and experiment with new ways to bring God’s future near to those who need it most.

I sympathize with Peter who wanted to stay where he was and memorialize his powerful mountaintop experience. But we are here today because Jesus, Peter, and the rest did not stay there. They went, they risked, and they invited people to Christ. Let’s do the same!

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Love Came to the Mailbox…
Ila June Brunner of Morro Bay, CA, USA

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these…you did it to me.” -Matthew 25:40

“Jean, would you like to come to church with me?” I asked.

“I feel I am a spiritual person, but I’m not into religion,” Jean replied.

“I know you are a spiritual person, and I value the spiritual connection we share,” I told her. One day she said, “The next time you speak at church I want to come hear you.” Her interest delighted me, and we arranged for her to come.

On the way to church, I told her, “I think you will find our tiny congregation of about a dozen people warm and friendly. However, I want to prepare you for the condition of our building. The front was damaged and is not yet repaired.”

At church, everyone greeted her warmly, and she keenly followed all that happened during the morning. We discussed the experience on the fifteen-mile drive back home, but I assumed this would be a one-time visit.

“May I come with you again?” she asked as I dropped her at her home. She never missed another Sunday except for conflicts in her schedule. She experienced God’s grace as expressed through Community of Christ.

Nine months after she started attending church, she sold her home in Morro Bay and bought another one close to her daughters. She sold her home for more than she paid for her new home and felt blessed and generous.

After her move, Jean sent a message to the congregation written on her hand-painted card, which read,

I was lonely and you took me in. I was hungry and you fed me. I was sad and you comforted me. I was shy and you loved me. I was searching and you shared the way… I am sending a gift to help with your front renovation. However…. your church is fully intact with or without improvements. I send my love to each of you. Jean

Her love came to our mailbox. She included a check for a large sum of money. Jean, a frugal woman, responded to God’s grace with generosity, desiring to know God’s will for her life. God’s grace blessed the people of the congregation as well as Jean.

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Do Something More…
Jean Strout of Hancock, ME, USA

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house… -Isaiah 58:6-7

The Emmaus Shelter in Ellsworth, Maine, is a shelter for the homeless. They are open 24/7 for people who are in need. I share this testimony not to boast, but as an example of helping people who are addressing needs.

I was shopping at our local department store and happened to see Sister Lucille who is the director of the Emmaus Center. She had a shopping cart full of notebooks, backpacks, ledger books, pencil boxes, and every other item a child would like to have to start school. We talked for a few minutes, I gave her money to help with the cost of the items, and then I went on my way to finish my shopping.

The more I thought about my meeting with Sister Lucille, the more I could imagine my best friend, who had died in May, speaking to me, “We need to help further with Sister Lucille’s shopping project.”

I began to remember what it was like when I was a young child getting ready for school. Not having a new notebook, paper, or pencils would be frustrating. The more I thought, the more I realized I needed to do something more, so I began to hunt for Sister Lucille.

When I found her, she had started to check out. I asked her if she would give me back my cash donation and allow me to pay for all the items. I caught her by surprise, and she asked why I was doing this. I wanted to do the right thing. May we each respond when it is right.

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Bob: Barista and Pastor
Bruce Crockett of Redmond, OR, USA

The Spirit of the One you follow is the spirit of love and peace. That Spirit seeks to abide in the hearts of those who would embrace its call and live its message… -Doctrine and Covenants 161:7

According to Webster’s Dictionary, two definitions for the word “companion” are a person who often associates with another and a person in an intimate relationship with another. In spiritual companioning a relationship may begin with the first definition and gradually move to the second. The benefits may be mutual; one person is no more important than the other, thus the wish for frequent association and permission for vulnerability.

I am an evangelist and a spiritual companion. But I, too, need a companion. Recently I found one in the local village coffee shop-the man who works behind the counter. The coffee shop is not like a large chain coffee bar. There are no lines, just friendly conversation for a few minutes each morning as Bob pours the coffee and the conversation begins.

Bob, the barista, is a retired house painter and former owner of a coffee shop. I have learned all about his careers, his family, his challenges, and his spiritual life. He has learned all about my challenges and spiritual life as well. Bob is a member of a small congregation, 12-14 people, as am I. So our relationship has moved from definition one to definition two in a short time. Each morning I look forward to a cup of coffee and a visit with Bob.

This morning, a man entered the shop as Bob and I were visiting. Bob introduced him as Pastor Dale, Bob’s pastor. Pastor Dale and I greeted each other warmly with a hand shake. I turned to Bob and said to Pastor Dale, “I would like you to meet Pastor Bob.” And Pastor Dale replied, “Yes!” with affirmation. For in my understanding of definition two, I receive spiritual companioning and pastoral care from “Pastor” Bob, the coffee shop host, and my new companion on the journey. We listen to each other, and we support each other as companion disciples of Christ.

I feel I have always received more than I have given in my ministry. I am humbled by the weaving of the Holy Spirit in these moments of bonding. With all the negativity in the world there are many more positives that happen every day in simple companioning, where God is present through others.

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Litter on the Labyrinth
Lu Mountenay

Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. -Colossians 3:13

(Lu’s time on Earth ended in May 2019, but her legacy lives on. Lu edited Daily Bread for several years.)

I saw, brittle on the path behind me-benign and without power, the same sticks and stones that once hurt my feelings, once made me doubt…and they were beautiful in their restored innocence. They were reborn to the purpose for which they were created, structures to shape the strata-scaffolding for the peaceable estate. They had atoned for the corruption of their use as weapons of mass spiritual destruction.

The sticks, once sharp and threatening, are now mere “kum-ba-yah” kindling for warmth and fine bones for weaving nests. The stones, once formidable and dense with guilt, are now rolled away from a self-imposed tomb, exposing slice after slice of forgiving light, now mine to freely radiate.

Yes…they may break my bones, but they can never lessen my resolve or flatten my faith again. I see them for what they are-inventions of my imagination, debris to trip me on my journey. I will leave them behind as litter on the labyrinth. I will not drag the burden with me, obliterating the path, scattering the bread-crumb trail home.

I will duck if I sense, once again, sticks pointed, stones hurled. “Oh, was that an insult, a criticism, a slight? …I must have misunderstood! Forgive me.”

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Positioning for Praise
Julie Conway-Sword of Gainesville, FL, USA

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! -Psalm 150:3-4

A friend and I have been taking a beginning Argentine tango class. We are learning so much about body positioning-being ready to watch, listen, and feel the next expected responsive move to a specific cue from our leader, our partner.

We practice walking with heads held high, shoulders back, taking straight strides that expect the next beat. It reminds me of Doctrine and Covenants 161:1b.  “…Walk proudly and with a quickened step. Be a joyful people. Laugh and play and sing, embodying the hope and freedom of the gospel.” We follow our partner’s lead.

At times we pause. Then my partner leans one shoulder forward, and we shift our weight to the ball of the matching foot. We walk a new direction. Then my partner leans the other shoulder forward; we balance on the other foot, and we walk that direction, continuing in this pattern.

What else am I learning personally? To wait, watch, and stand poised, ready to follow my leader. It’s like a spiritual practice in response to Doctrine and Covenants 164:9a. “…By the grace of God, you are poised to fulfill God’s ultimate vision for the church.”

I benefit from keeping my gaze upward-not watching my feet. Anticipating the next direction, I reflect on Doctrine and Covenants 159:8: “Then, as you gain ever more confidence in sensing the leadings of my Spirit, you will…move joyfully toward the fulfillment of the tasks that are yours to accomplish.” Let’s feel the rhythmic joy of God’s call!

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Spiritual Practice

Surrender

What might it look like to surrender a little to God each day? A simple prayer of surrender can help us become aware of God’s consistent invitations to deeper relationship and awareness. Imagine when you encounter a challenging person or situation silently uttering this prayer, “I surrender into your love, O God.” The same prayer can be meaningful in moments of joy and gratitude as a way of returning to the awareness of oneness with God. It’s ok if we don’t surrender everything all at once all the time. The prayer of surrender is a constant practice of returning little by little to the deepest love that is the ground of our being and desires wholeness and oneness for us and all creation.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.