Author: rkcdlitt

I wrote his short prayer in 2019 as a part of my book Prayers and Meditations through the Holy Spirit.

Allow me

Allow me to give my gifts to the world

Sharing God’s Love with all

See all people as equal sons and daughters

Allow me to emanate His divine image

Lifting up my heart and mind to God

As the trees stretch their arms to the heavens

Allow me to be the example of God’s love and compassion

Asking nothing but to enjoy His presence

As those did who were healed by Jesus

Allow me to be consumed by God’s light

And walk in the way of His prophets

Hearing His voice in the call of the birds

Allow me to awaken each morning as the image of God

Seeing the His face in others

As I pray that they see His face in mine

Allow me not to be judgmental

Accepting all who God has made

Respecting all people, animals, and plants as His creations

Allow me to be generous and share Your Grace

Welcoming others to bask in Your light

As Jesus does with all Your children

Allow me to love others as You love me

Allowing me to love all whom I meet

People of all races, nationalities, and economic status

Allow me to turn my face to Your light

As the flowers do each morning

Receiving the life-giving love of Your presence

I get my strength from God. The scribes of the Bible have a great deal to say about strength.

The writers of Exodus assure us: “The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (15:2)” as with the early Israelites, I also feel like I am in my personal desert and look to God for my strength.

Kind David writes: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore, my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. (Psalms 28:7)” in both scenes from the Bible, there is praise for the one God who triumphs over all trials that we face. I gratefully accept the strength that God gives me every day. Some days it is the only thing that keeps me going. I agree with Matthew when he reminds us that all things are possible when God dwells within. This is trust, not faith. I trust God never to leave me, never to lead me astray.

Finally, I am strengthened by the words of Timothy: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy: 1:7)” We are blessed and fortunate to live as God asks.

© Russell Kendall Carter

We are fast approaching the beginning of the greatest story every told. We Christians share this story every December, every Advent season. Luke forewarns us with this: “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. (21:27)” Our memories are solid of this exceptional story, but somehow, we are renewed by His story each Advent season, for He is alive and always with us. This story is how God shows eternal Love among us.

There are many other stories that we must share and not just during Advent but yearlong. These stories are ours. These stories are also important. It is vital to our mutual love that we share these stories whenever we can.

My wife of fifty-four years sometimes gets impatient with me because I am forever stopping to talk with people to learn their stories. Their stories are important to me because we all share a common heritage. A short while ago, I was sitting on my seated walker outside of a store waiting for her to make her purchases. There was a young man as a greeter handing shopping baskets to those entering. Naturally, I began a conversation with him, finding out that he was an immigrant from Thailand and was a Buddhist. I began by asking him why he came to the United States; answer – looking for a modern education. I mentioned to him that my sister also studied Buddhism and got me interested in it. As we talked, we both realized that we have more in common than different.

Sharing stories for the ten minutes we had brought us close. We shared a real hug after my wife emerged from the store. I learned I had a new friend because we shared our stories.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Some call this the daily office of prayer, but that sounds too church-ish to me, too formal, too demanding. Daily prayer should not be a structured practice, but it should be one that is done daily from the heart. . . without restrictions or structure. My daily practice in prayer is listening, listening for God to listen to me. My prayers are responses from God who begins the conversation. Prayer is a two-way conversation that is ongoing for my lifetime; one that God always begins. I am humbled by this closeness; I am blessed with peace, fellowship, and spiritual abundance. My Horarium begins each day with a new life in God’s eternal presence.

© Russell Kendall Carter

From St. Paul’s “The Fruit of the Spirit”: we have peace! Jesus promised this to us, for nothing can separate us from the Love of God. As Matthew writes, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life (6:25).” God is my strength; I trust the Goodness that allows my heart to rejoice and praise the presence of the Holy Spirit which lives within me. . . always.

My personal spiritual peace comes when God assists me in helping other people in their times of trial. With God’s help, I try to comfort those weaker than me; I try to be patient with those whose habits may annoy me. I thank God every day for putting the people of need in my life. I am not rich, but my sharing of prayer and God’s Love and peace does bring quietude to others’ lives. I spiritually join hands with them, watching in hope for the Love of God to descend upon us. I know God hears our collective prayers. God is merciful; God is our beloved; God is our faith in prayer; God is our constant companion.

© Russell Kendall Carter

I promise to love you; that is my promise to you, and that is the God of Hope’s promise to us. God fills us with peace and joy by the presence of the Holy Spirit which dwells within us. Jesus taught us that God is Love and love removes all the fear and doubt in our lives. God uses us as positive influences in the lives of all we meet; there is nothing in us that is wasted by God. We are good.

When we listen to God, the truth of Advent, the truth of our existence, is found in God’s voice coming from the victims of society. Through these voices we know that God cares for them and cares for us. God loves us; by sharing this love with those in need, the promise of our eternal lives is revealed. We reject society’s patterns in this world and are transformed by the promise of God’s presence in our lives.

© Russell Kendall Carter

I do not know

what the future will bring.

I cannot worry

of what comes next.

No need to fret

about these insignificant worries.

No need to substitute

knowledge for wisdom.                                         

T’is my big mistake for

there is no substitute.

My benefit of true wisdom,

only comes from me

and my relations with God.

My spiritual life grows

only in the times

when I am silent, praying,

listening for the wisdom to come

from the words of God. Listening

and learning about my spiritual life.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Traditionally, Thanksgiving is a period that the United States society steps back to reflect on the goodness of the year. It is a time of thankfulness and welcoming the stranger who has so little in life. Unfortunately, we have gone too far astray in our society. In a recent column, Fr. Richard Rohr of the Center for Action and Contemplation wrote: “We are finding it is nearly impossible to heal isolated individuals inside of a culture as unhealthy and unhealed as the USA, and inside any version of Christianity that supports exclusion and superiority.”

When I first read this, I was shocked that someone would think of our great society in these words. But then I reflected on how far we have strayed from the path that God wants us to follow; you know, the one Jesus lit for us in his brief time on Earth. If we accept that God lives within us, and we accept the teachings of Jesus, we are in great sin for allowing so many in our society to suffer from homelessness and poverty.

I quote from Matthew 22: ³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had left the Sadducees speechless, they met together. ³⁵ One of them, a legal expert, tested him. ³⁶ “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,^[c] and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.^[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

We have not done this; our self-proclaimed Christian society has failed on all accounts. We are not following the teachings of the Savior we profess to love so much. How can we love Jesus when we disregard His greatest commandments?

© Russell Kendall Carter

Teresa of Avila writes, “Beg our Lord to grant you perfect love for your neighbor and leave the rest to Him.” When God creates us, we receive the bond of togetherness. We draw strength only when we are together. In chapter eleven, Matthew writes of those of us who are heavily laden; “we find rest in the comfort of God and when we join together for strength.” When we trust and accept God’s comfort, we open the door to be welcomed and comforted by our peers. Our welcoming friends allow us to see ourselves for what we are, and what we are is perfection in God’s omnipotence, love, and truth. Ecclesiastes 4 reminds us that two are better than one and receives rewards for the togetherness.

To be honest with ourselves, radically honest, we recognize that nothing exists alone, and if we meditate, we use this time to discover our need to do something for others. In our times of meditation, God speaks to us, usually in the words we would normally use for us to understand God’s message for us. We learn that we cannot hold God close enough to us and close enough to others. We are insignificant when we are alone; however, when we belong to another or belong to a group, we are safer, stronger, and spiritually healthier.

This is God’s plan.

© Russell Kendall Carter

In the third Psalm, David cries, “Lord, I have so many enemies!” I have often felt the same way. Then I remember my absolute amazement of all the wonderful things that God does in and for my life. As YHWH saved the early Israelites from Egypt, I am comforted through my trials by God’s presence within me. Through prayer God gives me the strength to face these trials and promises that my very being is safeguarded.

There is nothing we can do to be more worthy of God’s Love. My faith is an assurance of the good in life. As the early Christians did, I use the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount to recognize the of all people, especially those shunned by man’s society. The Bible reminds us that the more we die to ourselves and our unnecessarily obsolete and strict rules, the more we will live in God’s TRUE light. As we receive God’s Love, we have love within ourselves to share with other members of God’s entire creation.

God gives us free will for a reason, allowing us to welcome the stranger and the forgotten sufferer. I worry not about doing what is politically correct; I by God’s Holy Commandments. AS I offer love to others, I receive their heartfelt blessings for God wants us to both give and receive from each other in the Holy name of Jesus.

I am firm in my faith because I know that the One whom I seek is also seeking me. I join God in knowing who I am and whom God knows me to be.

© Russell Kendall Carter