Liturgies for WholenessExemplo

A LITURGY FOR THOSE WHO FEEL BEHIND IN LIFE

God who sees and knows me,

meet me in my lostness.

Stuck in stagnancy,

I don’t know how to move.

Wandering in circles,

I don’t know what I want.

I know You have prepared good works for me, oh Giver,

but they feel obscured by my aimlessness.

The milestones my peers have hit

are but far-off dreams for me.

The goals they meet

strike like hammers to my heart.

Watching my friends race ahead of me,

I feel trapped in a competition I never meant to enter.

Bewildered by those who seem to understand

the invisible rules of how to succeed, I am left in the dust—

in work,

in relationships,

in finances,

in family.

But it is here in the dust, oh Jesus, that You find me.

Show me how my value lies beyond accomplishments.

I have romanticized finding my true calling,

believing my life will have value when I reach it.

Your cross, oh Christ, says otherwise—

I am already valuable enough to die for,

important enough to set free.

There are times I ask, What do I offer my community?

But perhaps my question should be, What can You offer through me?

Lord, may I be content where You have positioned me,

asking for help to see where I’m already brimming with blessing.

Replace my thoughts of comparison with compassion,

for I do not know the real stories of the people I envy.

Remind me I have a purpose as unique as Your love for me.

Reinvigorate my imagination to dream with You.

What if my current life is preparing me for something I can’t see?

Oh God, when I feel overlooked and forgotten,

when I ache to be important,

redirect my heart to You who remember me.

Bolster my hope, oh God,

as I leave the competition of comparison

and press onward to You.

Amen.