Happy Holidays! Well, at least this coming week features a lot of holidays, both secular and sacred. This Saturday will be Valentine’s Day, Monday will be Presidents’ Day, and Wednesday will be Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. It’s sort of an interesting progression, in a way. On Valentine’s Day we express our love for each other. On Presidents’ Day we honor key leaders in our nation’s history. Then on Ash Wednesday we turn our love and our honor heavenward, and begin the preparation towards Holy Week. Love, honor, and dedication – a fairly thematic week.
But, being that I’m a president now myself, I’m going to focus a little on Presidents’ Day by reading a portion of a prayer written by our first President, Mr. George Washington. It’s not dated, but was found in his prayer journal, and seems appropriate as we start Lent next week.
Here’s Washington’s prayer: “O eternal and everlasting God, increase my faith in the sweet promises of the gospel. Give me repentance from dead works; pardon my wanderings, and direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation. Teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments. Make me always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Amen.”
A pretty elegant prayer from a key figure in our nation’s history – quite honestly more than I expected when I first looked it up. So anyways, enjoy this “holiday season” – be lavish on Saturday, sleep in on Monday, and be blessed on Wednesday – sounds like a fun week. Let’s bow our heads.
Dear Father, thank you for this coming week, and all the days set aside for us to love, to honor, and to reflect. Thank you for this country’s history, its heritage, and its leaders. We give you tonight’s rehearsal, Lord. Amen.
(source: http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/george.html)
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