A prayer for 2015

Let us begin this new year by praying for everyone who is determined to make a new start. 

We pray for the little starts that make each of us better people, and more the people God created us to be. We acknowledge that these starts are hard because they often involve small unhelpful habits – but because they seem so insignificant when compared with the huge problems the world faces, it is so easy to let them go and to slide back into our old ways.

Let us pray also for those making big changes – especially those who have determined to follow long-held dreams of their purpose – those who have finally decided to ignore the (often imagined) judgements of others and now, at last, to follow the path our Creator made us for. Because these people follow God’s will for them, they will have many blessings and supports.

Let us pray to fulfil our dreams, because in need of even greater blessings and support are those of us who still have not the confidence to do what we have always dreamed of doing or being, what our Creator dreams of us being and doing. We pray that we will gain the confidence and courage to act on our dream – even if it is only to make a small beginning. The world needs us all to be our best – and to do with enthusiasm and purpose the things we were created to do. Only then can our God’s will be done on earth.

Let us pray for all who love others. God is love itself – and made us to love and for love. We pray for those already committed in love. May their love grow this year to fill all of God’s creation. Do not ask how – that is God’s part – but if love is to change the world our great lovers must grow their capacity to love so that all of creation is seen and loved.

Let us pray for those who are alone and believe that no-one loves them. Let each of us do our part to reach out to maybe touch a door to just one heart so that one person will see that they are love-able, loved and capable of giving great love.

And let us pray for those happy in their personal loves: spouse, children, family. May that love deepen and spread widely throughout the community, the world, and through the whole of God’s creation. May the power of the love we share with those close to us be a seed that will grow to encompass all with the depth of its intimacy, the strength of its grace, and the tenderness of its touch.

And let us pray for all who will lose someone or some part of creation they love this year. We know God loves them and holds them close – may they too come to see that, and be blessed through their pain to love again. Bless them with a deep understanding of their place in creation and with a certain knowledge that what is loved is never gone – only changed.

The new year is a time to reflect on change – changes we have made and will make.

We ask for God’s guidance and blessings on us as we live wholeheartedly the life we have been given.