A Prayer for Remembering the Past Year
borrow this if you can't find the words.
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.
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 stores away like a box in the attic that collects dust, 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. Let the good work of memory remind us that Immanuel came in the dust and dirt to the weary and unlikely. Let it remind us that your humanity paved the way to resurrection. Let it remind us that in your Kingdom nothing is wasted.
Come Lord Jesus.
Beautiful, simply beautiful!