For the next two years, we have invited special guest writers to contribute our Weekly Prayers. This month, we welcome former MWiB President Sandra Goodwin. Sandra writes:
The inspiration for this series of prayers is drawn from my love of the natural world, a passion taught and nurtured by my father from a very early age. Each Sunday afternoon he would take me and my siblings for a ‘nature walk’ through the lanes near our home, and holidays were spent roaming the Welsh mountains with their wide vistas and hidden waterfalls. Scripture is full of references to the natural world, and I invite you to quietly reflect on what they may be saying to us.
2 Corinthians 5: 17–18
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed, the new has come.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
One of the pleasures of walking in the British countryside is encountering butterflies, from the Small Blue to the Swallowtail, our largest butterfly. The Red Admiral pictured above is a common visitor to our garden – as are numerous varieties of caterpillar, evident from the many leaves containing holes and serrated edges!
he life cycle of the butterfly – egg, to caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly – is a beautiful analogy for the Christian. God is constantly active throughout creation, and that includes us. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the old self is gone forever. We are transformed, our life and attitudes change; in essence we become a ‘new creation’, the person that God intended us to be.
Pray the words of this hymn:
My Jesus, my Saviour, Lord there is none like you.
All of my days, I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love.
My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength,
Let every breath, all that I am never cease to worship you.
Shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of your name.
I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I’ll love you, forever I’ll stand.
Nothing compares to the promise I have in you.
© Darlene Zschech
Weekly Prayers for August written by Sandra Goodwin
Image: Red Admiral Butterfly Collage (photo – David Goodwin, 2018)
You can download the Weekly Prayers for August below:
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