A Prayer for When the Day Does Not Go to Plan

My favorite gifts I received for Christmas this year were Every Moment Holy volumes 1 & 2. These are beautiful collections of liturgies and prayers that give holy words to both the everyday and the grand moments of life, cultivating a posture of belief that all of life is indeed sacred. With these prayers ebbing and flowing through my heart and mind, I have begun to write some of my own prayers…

A Prayer for When the Day Does Not Go to Plan

Keeper of Our Days,

Meet me in this moment of disruption.

Gently unclasp my clenched hands from striving,

And massage your grace into my palms as I hold my disappointment.

As I breathe out my frustration, receive me in your mercy.

Allow me the freedom to unravel in your capable arms.

You remind me in your Word that we your children are prone to the misconception that we are in charge of our days,

When it is you, O God, who gives momentum to everything we are and do.

We don’t plan for flat tires, weather delays, or lost keys.

We orchestrate our lives to avoid inconvenience.

And yet, I believe that you are not detached from any of our moments.

So let this rerouting of my day be like a church bell, beckoning me in my finiteness back to You,

For in these interruptions, I confront my limitations.

In failed expectations, I am reminded that the world itself is not as it was intended to be.

While I long for restoration in the deepest ruins of my soul,

I acknowledge that a similar longing stirs in us in more trivial moments like these.

It is a longing for redemption, O God.

Help me believe that spilled milk is not outside of your redemptive care.

I hold the tension of wanting to just get through this, grit my teeth until the wind dies down and get back to my life.

But you are not a God who merely values the final destination;

You are invested in the journey.

You are vigilant over my undoing and my becoming.

Pick up the pieces of what has been broken in this day, and craft a new mosaic with what remains.

Give me faith to believe there is good and beauty here.

Rework my perception, so that I can embrace inconvenience as an invitation:

An invitation to extend grace

An invitation to pause

An invitation to grieve

An invitation to humor.

An invitation to let go.

An invitation to welcome a life of holy disruption.

Amen.