Guide me, Lord.

 Here is a prayer-poem for guidance, an echo of Psalm 25 and the pilgrim's heart.

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Guide Me, Lord

Guide me, Lord.

Not where I would choose,

but where I am needed.

Not by the light I can manufacture,

butby Your word, which is a lamp unto my feet,

and a light unto my path.(Psalm 119:105)

Guide my hands, that they might build

what You are building.

Guide my tongue,that it might speak

the echo of Your truth.

But first—

before the doing,before the speaking—

guide my heart.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting."(Psalm 139:23-24)

I do not ask for a map of all my years,

laid out in perfect,sterile clarity.

I ask for the next step.

I ask for the manna of this day,

the daily bread of direction.(Exodus 16:4)

I ask for the pillar of cloud by day,

the fire by night.(Exodus 13:21)

Be my moving,constant sign.

When the fork in the road appears,

and wisdom feels thin,

be my"Counselor." (Isaiah 9:6)

When the way is shrouded and I fear a misstep,

be my"Good Shepherd." (John 10:11)

Remind me:"He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul."(Psalm 23:2-3)

Even when the path descends

into valleys shadowed and deep,

I will fear no evil,

for Your rod and Your staff—

the tools of a shepherd to guide and defend—

they are my comfort.(Psalm 23:4)

Guide me through, not always around.

Through the refining,through the learning,

through the necessary wilderness.

For You guided even Your Son there,

"by the Spirit."(Matthew 4:1)

So guide me, Lord.

"Teach me Your way, O Lord;

lead me in a straight path."(Psalm 27:11)

Let my will become a pliable thing

in Your skilled hands.

Let my life become a signpost,

not to my own cleverness,

but to Your faithful guidance.

And when I arrive—breathless and worn—

at the destination You foreknew,

let it be said that I was led

by a love that would not let me go,

by a voice I learned to trust in the quiet,

by the"Spirit of truth," who "will guide you into all the truth." (John 16:13)

I am following.

Guide me.

Amen.