Day Six - A Prayer On Forgiveness

God, are you asking ME to forgive? I know You are capable of amazing forgiveness - but Me?

How can you expect me to forgive when I feel so hurt, so used and so let down by those closest to me?

When fireworks of old shook foundations, bitterness became embedded, so it is hard to forget Lord.

Yet I know as you have forgiven me, so I am commanded to forgive those who trespass on my rights.

Therefore, God, I am asking you to help me, because frankly I cannot do it alone, I am too human!

So, Lord, when I feel wronged,

Help me not to wait for the sleight to be acknowledged before I will forgive the perpetrator.

When I am feeling down, Lord,

Help me to forgive myself for feeling that way and allow myself space and time to recover.

When there is no clear direction on my faith journey, Lord

Help me not to blame you for stagnation but remember to look sideways for pathways

I may not have even considered.

Loving God, forgive me for my lack of faith and my frequent inability to trust you completely.

Forgive me for ignoring others that you send to speak into my life, for thinking I have to do it alone.

Lord when I am too eager to rush ahead on this journey of discipleship

Teach me to not be afraid of treading water to simply float in the ocean of your mercy,

Because as I dwell in your love, bathed in your cleansing forgiveness,

So my head and heart know clarity of purpose – that of knowing You and Your will.

And in line with the Archimedes’ principle, may that same upward force of Your mercy which I enjoy

Be equal in magnitude to the flow of forgiveness displaced to those who trespass against me.

Thank you Jesus for the joy of salvation, the knowledge that I am loved by a forgiving God

Whose mercy endures forever.

Amen.

Elisabeth Sweeney