Prayers for Motivation…

Dear Lord; First off, I want to thank you for a very nice weekend.  I was Blessed to spend the bulk of my time the last two days with my Family and good Friends, and other than a serious lack of sleep, enjoyed it thoroughly.  This morning however, I’m having a serious problem finding my inner motivation.  It’s not that there’s anything specifically wrong, I’m just not focusing well on how I can make the most from this day and serve Your Path for me to the fullest.  Therefore Father, my prayers today are for inspiration.  Please fill my head and my heart with Your Presence, and guide me to conduct myself in such a way as to honor Your Blessings in all I do.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil

From a Father to The Father

Dear Lord; This morning Father, I’m just going to brag a little about my children.  I attended a parent-teacher conference for Aidan this morning, and it was just so heartening to hear the wonderful words of praise from his teacher.  He’s doing very well academically, but that wasn’t really what made me leave grinning from ear to ear.  His teacher started the meeting by saying that for conferences this period, she sat down and came up with three adjectives to describe each child.  In Aidan’s case, she had a hard time choosing only three but the ones she came up with as the top selections just made my day; Curious, Sweet and Helpful.  She then spent time emphasizing to me that while he was a wonderful student, he was just a pleasure to have in her class because he was so focused on caring for and helping everyone around him.  (~Insert Beaming Father Face Here~)  Shannon and I try very hard to instill a sense of empathy and sense of compassion in our boys, but like every parent we have days where we’re just sure we’re missing the mark somewhere.  Today was a wonderful validation that through all of it, we’re doing something right.  Thank You so much for Blessing us with our two Angels, and for helping me see that glimpse of the Men we’re trying to raise.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil

A Moment to Thank You…

Dear Lord; Wow… This week is certainly off to a bumpy start.  Between several insane situations at work, and some friends going through horrendous personal turmoil, I’m feeling drained and it’s only Tuesday.  However, instead of focusing on the craziness, I’m spending a few minutes to take a step back and thank You for Blessing me so very much.  You’ve Graced me with a wonderful Wife, remarkable children and good friends that I love and value deeply.  I have a profession that while it can drive me crazy sometimes, I can honestly say I’m very happy going to work each day.  We live in a lovely home, are able to put nourishing food in our stomachs and have enjoyed overall good health as of late.  And on top of it all Father, I feel my relationship with You has never been stronger.  I am indeed Blessed.  Thank You.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil

I Shall Not Fear…

Dear Lord; This morning Father, I’d like to talk with You about fear.  For a number of personal reasons and from conversations with others, I’ve spent a great deal of time contemplating and analyzing (or overanalyzing as my Wife might say) fear and it’s effects on people lately.

What I’ve come up with is this; We all struggle to maintain an inner balance between our Hearts and Minds, or to put it another way our Desires and our Wisdom.  At any given point in time, the balance can shift based on a wide variety of factors, and those factors can obviously be influenced through a huge range of external situations as well.  If we allow our Desires to run the show, we’re extending outside our “comfort zone” and experiencing new things, however there may be some higher level of risk involved.  If on the other hand we allow our Wisdom to dominate our decisions, we stay on the safe side of things, but are certainly unlikely to enjoy our lives to their fullest potential.  I know in my own life, most of my happiest moments have come from my Heart venturing into uncharted waters, and yet my Mind has certainly kept me out of more than one situation that could have been disastrous.  It’s absolutely a balance, and a very complicated issue we all face every day.

In this complex equation Father, I see You as the “scales” between the two sides.  You help guide us through our lives, and help us maintain the balance that’s so vital.  I truly believe You want Your children to enjoy what life You have blessed us with, and yet have graced us with that Wisdom to keep us as much from harm as possible.  I give Thanks for Your Presence in that role, and ask that You continue to help us all balance our lives for the greatest possible fulfillment of our time on this Earth.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Blessings to All Your Creatures

Dear Lord; My thoughts to you this morning come from a conversation I had with a good friend of mine regarding the pain she was feeling from the loss of a pet.  Thinking more deeply about the situation, it dawned on me that a great many people are very deeply attached to their pets (myself included… Take a look at my Flickr link in the sidebar for pictures of my dogs :-)).  They provide us love and companionship, and ask for amazingly little in return.  There have been many discussions over the years in a variety of Religious and Philosophical forums as to whether or not animals have souls and if so, when they pass do they go to Heaven, however I’ve never questioned that.  They touch our hearts and spirits in ways few other things can.  If in Your Great Love Lord, You have created Heaven as a Paradise where exists True Happiness, I firmly believe that any of Your creatures that so intensely touch our Spirits will once again meet us in that Garden.  Therefore Heavenly Father, today my prayers go out to our wonderful animals, and to Your children that love and care for them.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil