A Prayer for Remembering the Past Year
God, You know my past and you know my future.
You know all the things that happened this year.
Nothing surprised you, nothing was too much for You.
God, You made me with a mind that can think, dream, and remember.
When the year ends I do all of those things.
I think about what happened, I dream about what will come, and I remember all the things that my mind seems to store away like a box in the attic that collects dust but yet somehow still takes up valuable space.
I remember things that were light and fun like the breeze on that Spring day as the kids were happily playing outside.
I remember things that were heavy and ill-fitting like that unsettled feeling that crept in when the season of waiting never seemed to end and the suffering of a friend made no sense at all.
In this Advent season, I want to be like Mary storing up things and pondering them in my heart, but sometimes I don’t know how to hold all you’ve given me to remember.
Some of this past year feels like an awkwardly-shaped backpack someone else filled up for me to carry around and I ask myself: Am I getting stronger to carry it or is it just simply weighing me down?
God, don’t let my memories of this year bury me.
In your grace, let my remembering be a gift.
In your kindness, let my remembering be a teacher.
In your mercy, let my remembering be redeemed.
May all of this year be stored away with purpose and beauty. Nothing wasted, nothing packed away to cobwebs, nothing lost forever.
Let the good work of memory remind me that Immanuel came in the dust and dirt, to the weary and unlikely.
Let the good work of memory remind me that when You came as a baby and died as a man, resurrection was always the plan.
Let the good work of memory remind me that my future is secure.
For an audio version of this prayer, check out this episode of WHTH.