A NEW AND RIGHT SPIRIT

Psalm 51:6-12

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

You desire truth in the inward being;
    therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
    and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Meditation:*

Sit quietly for a few moments.  Breathe deeply; exhale your troubles.  Feel what is most true: You are sitting in the very heart of God. 

Now read the Psalm slowly.  Take the words of the Psalm into your own heart.  Sit in silence a moment more, then ask God to re-walk through your previous day with you.  Ask God to help you remember each moment of grace, of blessing, of God’s presence that occurred during the day.  Thank God for each one of them.

Then ask God to show you the moment you were farthest from God, the moment you would like to do over, to do differently.  Ask God’s forgiveness.  Give thanks and recognize that you go into the next hours forgiven, restored and new.

Prayer:
O Holy One, thank you for the graces and blessings you have given me today.  Thank you for your forgiveness.  Create in me a clean heart.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation.  Sustain in me a generous, willing spirit.  Amen.

*This meditation taken from Unbinding Your Heart,  Martha Grace Reese, (c) 2008