Ode on Imitations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood

To me there came a thought of grief;

A timely utterance gave that thought relief,

And I am again strong.

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:

The soul that rises with us, our life's star,

Hath had elsewhere it s setting, and cometh from afar:

Not in utter forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God who is our home.

Though nothing can bring back the hour

of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, but rather find

strength in what remains behind.

In the primal sympathy which having been must ever be;

In the soothing thoughts that spring out of human suffering.

In the faith that looks through death.

Thanks to the human heart by which we live,

thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears, 

To me the meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

~William Wordsworth

O, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil. (Prayer of Jabez)

Jonah's Prayer

In my distress I called to the Lord,

and he answered me.

From the depths of the grace I called for help.

and you listened to my cry.

You hurled me into the deep, 

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me;

all your waves and breakers swept over me.

I said, I have been banished from your sight;

Yet I will look again to your holy temple.

The engulfing waters threatened me, 

the deep surrounded me;

seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sunk down;

the earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.

When my life was ebbed away, I remembered you, Lord.

and my prayer rose to you holy temple.

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit

the grace that could be theirs.

But I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice for you.

What I have vowed, I will make good.

Salvation comes from the Lord.  

~Jonah 2:1-9

Tough questions from kids

The main reason to pray for our enemies is because God tells us to. In fact, He tells us to love our enemies.  Praying for our enemies and loving them is God's way.

 Another reason is that people, especially bad people, need prayer.  There is no better way to change them.  If we want bad people to stop being bad, we need to ask God to do it..

Colossians 2:2......My purpose to:

My purpose is that we may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that we may know the mystery of God, and that is Christ..

For this reason

For this reason, since the day we first heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  And we pray this for that you may live life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of the light.  For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins...~Colossians 1:9-14

Prayer for abundance in everything spiritual

Therefore ye shall lay up the Word; my words on your heart and in your soul, to bind them for a sign that is on your hand, that they may be as a frontspiece between your eyes. 

And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up;

And you shall write the word on the doorposts of your house, and upon the gates, that your days may be multiplied, the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto the Father to give them as the days of heaven upon the earth..

~Deut 11:18-22

God displayed in his life....

As Jesus went along he saw a blind man from birth..His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents so that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God can be displayed in his work...~John 9:2-3

Loving God

Everything exposed to the light is visible; For it is light that makes everything visible; This is what is said: Wake up oh sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you...ephesians 13:14

Drawing closer to God

God our Father

God, our Father, walk through my house and take away all my worries and illnesses and please watch over and heal my family..In Jesus' name

To get something you never had. You have to do something you never did. When God takes something from your grasp it is not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence: The will of God will not take you where the grace of God will not protect you. Something good will happen to you today Something that you have been waiting to hear

St Therese's Prayer

May today there be peace within
May you trust God that you are exactly where you want to be
May you not forget the infinite possibility that are of faith
May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on with love that was given to you
May you be content knowing if you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle in your being
Allow yourself the freedom to dance, sing, praise and love
it is there for each and every one
~St Therese of the child Jesus and the Holy Face