prayer for new beginnings

I've been praying this prayer quite a bit the past few months.

January came and that felt like a new beginning, My 32nd birthday came in February and that felt like a new beginning, And today, the first day of March, feels like a new beginning too. The past will always be a part of us, but - how grateful I am that I feel like the days are ripe with fresh starts and new seasons and spring. I echo the sentiment of the prophet Jeremiah today: "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning..."(Lamentations 3:22-23). This prayer is taken from my book of prayers called Guerillas of Grace by Rev. Ted Loder, retired former leader of FUMC Germantown in Philadelphia.

Help Me to Believe in Beginnings

God of history and of my heart,

so much has happened to me during these whirlwind days:

I’ve known death and birth;

I’ve been brave and scared;

I’ve hurt, I’ve helped;

I’ve been honest, I’ve lied;

I’ve destroyed, I’ve created;

I’ve been with people, I’ve been lonely;

I’ve been loyal, I’ve betrayed;

I’ve decided, I’ve waffled;

I’ve laughed and I’ve cried.

You know my frail heart and my frayed history –

and now another day begins.

O God, help me to believe in beginnings

and in my beginning again,

no matter how often I’ve failed before.

Help me to make beginnings:

to begin going out of my weary mind

into fresh dreams,

daring to make my own bold tracks

in the land of now;

to begin forgiving

that I may experience mercy;

to begin questioning the unquestionable

that I may know truth;

to begin disciplining

that I may create beauty;

to begin sacrificing

that I may make peace;

to begin loving

that I may realize joy.

Help me to be a beginning to others:

to be a singer to the songless,

a storyteller to the aimless,

a befriender of the friendless;

to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,

of assurance for the doubting,

of reconciliation for the divided;

to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,

of comfort for the sorrowing,

of friendship for the forgotten;

to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,

of sweetness for the soured,

of gentleness for the angry,

of wholeness for the broken,

of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.

Help me to believe in beginnings,

to make a beginning,

to be a beginning,

so that I may not just grow old,

but grow new

each day of this wild, amazing life

you call me to live

with the passion of Jesus Christ.

Amen.