I Search for You in Silence

I search for you in silence
yet sometimes I find only a lack of sound
I search for you in solitude
yet sometimes I find only lonliness
I search for you in worship
yet sometimes I find only distraction
I search for you…
yet sometimes…
I find only that you are hard to find.

But then you find me.
And I find that that all along you are
seeking me
searching me
trying me
changing me
so that you may find me blameless in your sight.

Continue your searching,
and I promise to continue mine.

A Christmas Prayer

We lie comfortably in our beds
and forget that you lay in a manger
We surround ourselves with possessions
and forget that you were surrounded my animals
We do our best to remember you this season
but we too easily forget when there are
presents to be opened
meals to be eaten
miles to be traveled
pictures to be taken
memories to be made…and forgotten.

Renew our memory
so that we cannot open a present without remembering your gift to us
or eat without remembering that you provide
or even move wihtout remembering that you are with us.

Restore our memory
so that we remember
the baby born into violence
the baby born into poverty
the baby born into oppression
so that we remember not his taking, but his giving.

We forget too easily, yet you only ask that we remember.