Recycled Prayers from Heart Matters
Photo by Alexander Grey @unsplash
Heart Matters is a monthly email newsletter published by Heartbeat Formation, LLC. I published it 10 times in 2024, the first year of its publication. Each newsletter concluded with a section titled “Heart Prayer,” which offers a prayer, blessing, meditation, devotion, or wisdom quote. I aim to give the reader a word of encouragement, an expression of good wishes, or a petition for guidance to recap the newsletter theme, similar to a benediction to close the worship experience. Benediction is the Latin form for the word “blessing,” which means “to say —dicere —good things —bene.” I hope that those who read Heart Matters will be spiritually blessed.
As reflected in Georgia Douglas Johnson’s poem Benediction, italics reflect my changes.
Go forth, dear reader,
Winged by your heart’s desire!
Great reaches, yet unknown,
Await
For your possession.
Others may not, if they would,
Retrace the way with you,
Their pilgrimage is theirs,
But life is calling you!
Fare high and far, dear reader
A new day has begun,
Your star-ways must be won!
Like the speaker in this poem tells her son to capture his heart’s desire because great things await him in the unknown, I believe the same for you, dear reader. Our pilgrimage is what God has called us to in our lifetime, not what God has called for another. So, in this new year and each new day that begins your hours, may your pathway, hopes, dreams and desires between Earth and the stars be victorious.
A Gift for You (Download Recycled Prayers)
I have compiled the ten “Heart Prayer” offerings from 2024 Heart Matters as recycled prayers for the new year. Recycled prayers can be repeated with a fuller heart, clearer sight, fresher energy, intention, and attention. In the book of Psalms, the psalter reuses Psalm 57:7-11 in Psalm 108:1-5 and Psalm 60:5-12 in Psalm 108:6-13: same prayer, different situation, circumstance, even a different generation.
I offer you Recycled “Heart Prayers” to speak aloud, hold in silence, or pass on to others when you or someone else needs to welcome a new thing, quiet a restless heart, enjoy peace in God’s presence, remember not to think so much, or pray for deep listening.
January
New Year’s Blessing
Let us walk gently; others may follow
Let us be mindful of our words; they carry power
Let us listen without fixing or judging
Let us dare to love, unafraid and unapologetically
Let us walk into the new year welcoming God’s new thing
Let us dwell in the possibility of all we believe impossible
Let us learn just to be
February
Quiet The Restless Heart
Oh, Lord, you know exactly who I am.
You have explored and searched my heart.
You know what I am going to say before I say it.
You have shaped me inside and out.
My heart is grateful.
I lack for nothing; Lord, you are my shepherd.
You lead me to quiet spaces of rest.
You soothe my fears and restore my soul.
You comfort me in those dark moments.
My heart is grateful.
March
A Devotion From Jesus Calling
Enjoying Peace in His Presence
I am taking care of you. Trust me at all times. Trust me in all circumstances. Trust Me with all your heart. When you are weary, and everything seems to be going wrong, you can still utter these four words, “I trust you, Jesus.” But by doing so, you release matters into My control, and you fall back into the security of my Everlasting arms.
Before you arise from your bed in the morning, I have already arranged the events of your day. Every day provided many opportunities for you to learn My ways and grow closer to Me. Signs of My Presence brighten even the dullest day when you have eyes that really see. Search for Me as for hidden treasure. I will be found by you.
Proverbs 3:5, Deuteronomy 33:27, Jeremiah 29: 13-14
April
Words of Wisdom From Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle
Remember:
if you want to make progress
on the path
and ascend to the places
you have longed for,
the important thing
is not to think much,
and so to do
whatever
best awakens you to love.
Lord, awaken us to love
Awaken what is best in me to love.
Phot by Javardh @unsplash
May
Deep Listening Prayer
God of silence and God of all sound, help me to listen. Help me to do the deep listening to the sounds of my soul, waiting to hear your soft voice calling me deeper into you. Give me attentive ears that begin to separate the noise from the sounds that are you; you who have been speaking to me and through me my whole life for so long that you can seem like background noise. Today, help me hear you anew.
- Author Unknown
June
Meditation adapted from Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling
Time with God cannot be rushed. When you are in a hurry, your mind flitters back and forth between God and the tasks ahead of you. Push back the demands pressing in on you, and create a safe space around you, a haven where you can rest with God. The Lord desires this time of focused attention to strengthen and equip you for the day ahead. Spending time with God is a wise investment.
Bring God the sacrifice of your precious time. This creates sacred space around your space permeated with God’s Presence and Peace.
Psalm 119:27, 2 Chronicles 16:9, Hebrews 13:15
September
Come With Me
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
stop what you are doing
stop what you are becoming
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place.”
pause what you are consuming
pause what you are producing
“Come with me by yourselves.”
play instruments, sing praises to God
play God your heart song
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mark 6:31
October
Teach Me To Do Nothing
Lord, teach me
To do nothing
To rest in lush meadows
To catch my breath
To trust you have sent me in the right direction
Lord, teach me to do nothing
For all the beauty your eyes see, for all that you feel, give thanks to our Creator God—photo by Casey Horner @Unsplash.
November
A Three-Step Morning Prayer
First Step: Plant your feet firmly on the earth. Using your five senses, give thanks to our Creator God for the countless ways God comes to us through creation- for all the beauty that your eyes see, for all the sounds that your ears hear, for all the scents that you smell, the tastes that you taste, for all that you feel (the sun, wind, rain, snow, warm, or cold). Pray this day that you may be open and attuned to the countless ways that our Creator God comes to us through your senses, through the gifts of creation.
Second Step: Let go of all the pain, struggle, regret, failures, garbage of yesterday - step out of it - leave it behind- brush the dust of it from your feet.
Third Step: With this third and final step, step into the gift of the new day, full of hope, promise, and potential. Give thanks for the gift of this new day, which God has made!
Amen.
- Jose Hobday, Franciscan Native American nun (1929-2009)
December
Come, Long-Expected Jesus
Come, long-expected Jesus.
Excite in me a hunger for peace: peace in the world, peace in my home, peace in myself.
Come, long-expected Jesus.
Excite in me a joy responsive to the Creator’s joy. I seek God’s will to serve with gladness, singing, and love.
Come, long-expected Jesus.
Excite in me hope, joy, love, and peace,
that which is right to bring the manger of my Lord.
Raise in me, too, sober reverence for the God who acted there, hearty gratitude for the life begun there, and spirited resolution to serve the Father and Son.
Ase. Amen
