“Thou great I AM,
Fill my mind with elevation and grandeur at the thought of a Being whith whom one day is as a thousand years, and one thousand years as one day,
A mighty God who, amidst the lapse of worlds, and the revolutions of empires, feels no variableness, but is glorious in immortality.
May I rejoice that, while men die, the Lord lives; that, while all creatures are broken reeds, empty cisterns, fading flowers, withering grass, He is the rock of ages, the fountain of living waters.
Turn my heart from vanity, from dissatisfactions, from uncertainties of the present state, to an eternal interest in Christ.
Let me remember that life is short and unforeseen, and is only an opportunity for usefulness;
Give me a holy avarice to redeem the time, to awake at every call to charity and piety, so that I may feed the hungry, clothe the naked, instruct the ignorant, reclaim the vicious, forgive the offender, diffuse the gospel, show neighbourly love to all.
Let me live a life of self-distrust, dependence on Thyself, mortification, crucifixion, prayer.”
(from Valley of Vision)
When our lives take the “unexpected” turns we are prone to convince ourselves that we experience something new. At these times I personally feel that God should surely pay me some extra attention. This prayer has made me realize that nothing can ever befall me that He is not intimately familiar with, due to both His sovereign design and the reality that He has remained unchanged as countless lives have walked the dust of this earth. Whatever might change to me remains nothing new to the One who remains constant.