Pray with me

So much in the media and even in my heart suggest that God should fulfill my every desire, my every whim. But that's an upside-down universe, and every day we see it crashing all around us: injustice, broken marriages, addiction, rage, racism, depression, genocide, deception, pride, etc.

As a follower of Jesus, I've been encouraged lately that God has really changed the world in and through the death and resurrection of Jesus. And that as I gladly submit to his re-creating work in me through his Holy Spirit, new creation continues to spring up in this wilderness-world. This prayer has been on my mind and heart lately.

Almighty God, who alone can bring order to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity: give your people grace so to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, among the many changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

--from the Book of Common Prayer, the collect for the fifth Sunday before Lent.