Be All That You Can Be
Do you remember that slogan from the Army?
I know it wasn’t meant to be taken in a spiritual light, but that’s how I’ve always heard it. God, not just the US Army, wants us to “be all that we can be.” We are perfectly made for God’s plan and each has a role. I recently read a writing from Martin Luther King, Jr. that said something like, “I cannot be fully whole until you are fully who you are made to be and you cannot be fully whole until I am fully who I am to be.” We need each other. So, we must care for each other.
As we are in the season of Lent and it is meant as a time of preparation, ask yourself what you are doing to live into God’s image of your life. Are you serving others? Are you sharing light in a dark world? Do you speak God’s truth? Do you show love, even when it’s difficult?
I’ve shared before that I read the Celtic Daily Prayer for devotions. Complines, which are prayers said before sleeping at night, are a good way to end the day. I wanted to share St. Patrick’s compline with you and hope that, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we can be all we were created to be:
In the name of the King of life;
in the name of the Christ of love;
in the name of the Holy Spirit:
the Triune of my strength.
I love you, O Lord my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.
My God is my rock in whom I take refuge.
I will praise the Lord who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
I am placing my soul and my body under Thy guarding this night, O Christ.
May Thy cross this night be shielding me.
Into Your hands I commit my spirit;
redeem me, O Lord, the God of Truth.
The God of life with guarding hold you;
the loving Christ with guarding fold you;
the Holy Spirit, guarding, mold you;
each night of life to aid, enfold you;
each day and night of life uphold you.
May God shield me;
may God fill me;
may God keep me;
may God watch me;
may God bring me this night
to the nearness of His love.
The peace of the Father of joy,
the peace of the Christ of hope,
the peace of the Spirit of grace,
the peace of all peace be mine this night
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Northumbria Community. Celtic Daily Prayer. HarperCollins Publishers.