There is a storm within me

Things to do downpour 

Waves of worry and fear roll,

not enough, not enough, not enough

When the storms rage and the seas threaten to overtake me

Remind me of your sleeping presence in the boat: at ease, unworried.

I am not shipwrecked. I am not alone.

You care.

Sometimes I have no control over the storms that come my way, 

but I want to.

I don’t want to be a small boat in a big ocean.

In darkness, would you be a light to me.

In upheaval and tumult, would you be my Rock.

In fear or danger, would you be a safe place to hide, my Refuge.

When the chaos of the world is too much,

help me to see how you reign over all things:

enough, enough, enough.

Would you who command the wind and waves bring calm again,

in me, for me, around me.

I confess that sometimes these are storms of my own making;

I have taken on too much.

Teach me to live within my humanity,

agreeing with you that I was never meant to be unlimited –

as much as I long for it, that is yours alone. 

Show me the boundaries that are meant to keep me well and how to thrive within them.

Would it be good news to me that you are God and I am not, 

That I don’t have to be enough for everyone, captain of all things.

Would the limitations I have help me turn in trust towards you, in dependance on you. 

Or at times I have not valued my time, giving it to unworthy things.

Teach me to number my days, my hours, my minutes –

that just as I am not unlimited, neither are they. 

Show me what truly brings life and what doesn’t.

I want to be a good steward, taking care of what you have entrusted to me;

Would my time be used to join you in your invitation to do good in this world.

Help me wisely consider my ways;

If how I have ordered my life keeps me from loving you and others well,

Would you give me the courage to change it,

That I would have space to see and care for those around me;

A lighthouse to other boats on the water, a calm presence in raging seas.

Remind me again that you are with me.

Light, Rock, Refuge.

You alone are enough and that is enough for me.

With each breath I take, fill me again with your presence.

Pause and take a few deep breaths now.