A Prayer for Saturday, March 7, 2015

Sixteenth Day of Lent

O God,

Help us remember what the past is for.

Help us remember that the past is

for the mistakes from which we have learned our lessons and which we have otherwise put behind us,
for the sins of which we have repented and for which you have forgiven us,
for the hurts that we have inflicted on others and that we have done our best to make right,
for the hurts that have been inflicted on us and for which we have forgiven the inflictors, and
for the grace and mercy that got us through it and that brought us to this point.

Help us remember what the past isn’t for.

Help us to remember that the past isn't

for trying to live in,
for going back to in order to beat ourselves up,
for wishing we could change it,
for reconstructing so as to deny our responsibility,
for using as an excuse not to be who we should be now, and
for finding reasons to hold a grudge

Help us to make constructive and not destructive use of our past …

Amen.