prayer – Page 4 – 300 words a day

Pouring a heart before God.

It’s about 1100 BC, give or take a few decades. In Greece, it is a time between civilizations. In China, the Shang dynasty is ending, the first of the Chinese civilizations. Rome doesn’t exist yet, as a civilization that we know. And in Israel, there is a woman named Hannah who wants a son. Her […]

by Jon Swanson

A prayer for a new week.

I make lists of things I want to write about. It’s a good practice. But it’s a barometer of my soul as well. When every idea on the list is a “how to”, I know I need to think a little about”why to.” When every idea on the list is “How sad”, I know I […]

by Jon Swanson

Consider a reverse prayer list.

A reverse bucket list. The idea has been around for awhile. Rather than making a list of the things you want to do before you die, the idea is to make a list of the things that you have already done. I’m not a bucket list fan, but I like the idea. For those of […]

by Jon Swanson

A prayer and a request.

Some days I’m pretty resilient at the hospital. I walk out tired but grateful. Recently I had one of the “not” days. The day wasn’t excruciating by chaplain standards. A death, a new baby, a couple of visits with people chronically ill. Encouraging conversations in the midst of hard times. The opportunity to speak graciously […]

by Jon Swanson

A prayer for Monday (and every day)

Every week at the end of our service we pray together something called the Lord’s Prayer. Or the “our Father” And every week I think, ”I ought to talk about that.” And then I forget. Until this week, when I started to prepare a message on a day known as “Father’s Day” and I thought, […]