Celtic Daily Prayer

We continue our meditation on the Celtic Morning Prayer that is shot through with prayers from Scripture. The next part of morning prayer has the words of Psalm 130:6

My soul waits for the Lord

more than those

who watch for the morning,

more than those

who watch for the morning.

The text uses the image of a night watchman who guards the community through the night. For us today it also raises the 2 questions, how watchful am I and for what is it that I watch.

A young boy looked up at his grandfather and wondered aloud, “Grandpa, how do you live for Jesus?” The respected grandfather stooped down and quietly told the boy, “Just watch.”

As the years went by, the grand-father was an example to the boy of how to follow Jesus. He stayed rock-steady in living for Him. Yet the grandson often lived in a way that was not pleasing to God.

One day the young man visited his grandfather for what both knew would be the last time. As the older man lay dying, his grandson leaned over the bed and heard his grandpa whisper, “Did you watch?”

That was the turning point in the boy’s life. He understood that when his grandpa had said, “Just watch,” he meant, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). He vowed that from then on he would live as his grandfather did—striving to live for Jesus. He had watched, and now he knew how to live.

I recently read, “No matter your age, stage of life, or circumstances, don't forget to dare to dream with God. You don't have to figure anything out. Just keep saying yes to Him, in big ways and small, and watch.”

I dangle my toes over

the curb of my heart,

my toes washed in

those tears racing

towards the storm drain,

my keening words

echoing through the

empty streets;

if you wrote all my sins

on the blackboard

you would run out of schools,

but the Spirit stays after class,

banging dusty death out of the

erasers

begging your pardon

for Crossing

out your work;

more than those

who watch the clock

on the graveyard shift,

i wait (we wait!) for hope

to be the lyrics of

the music of your heart,

more than a rooster

scanning the horizon

for that first glimpse of dawn -

we hope

In you, Amen