# The soil of your soul Day 5 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer *Father, Allow the soil of my soul to be a place that is fertile and receptive to all that you desire to plant in my heart. Tend it carefully and nurture all that has sprung up in me that is of you; that I may be a garden of your delight. Through Jesus. Amen. (JLB)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 65 #### O God of Our Salvation To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. *65 Praise is due to you,[a] O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.* *2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!* *5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation,* *the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; 6 the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; 7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, 8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.* *9 You visit the earth and water it;[b]you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water;you provide their grain,for so you have prepared it.10 You water its furrows abundantly,settling its ridges,softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,the hills gird themselves with joy,13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain,they shout and sing together for joy.* #### Scripture for the Day: John 12:23-28 *23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.* *The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up* *27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”* #### Reading for Reflection: *When it comes to the practice of heart prayer, give up all concerns about success and failure. What you are doing in these times is planting prayer within yourself so that it will be there through the rest of the day. It is indeed very much like planting a seed in the ground. You just put it there and let it take its natural course. Don’t keep digging it up to see how it is growing. Don’t try to manipulate or control it; just notice it, appreciate it. Entrust its care to God. (The Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: You Have Redeemed My Soul *You have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness* *You have redeemed my soul from death (Repeat)* *I was a hungry child, a dried up river.* *I was a burned out forest* *And no one could do anything for me* *But you put food in my body, water in my dry bed* *And to my blackened branches* *You brought springtime green and a new life* *And nothing is impossible for you* ### Closing Prayer: *Grow your good grace in me O God. Make me receptive to the ways that you water and tend this garden of my heart. Prune me where I need pruning, nurture me where I need nurturing, weed me where I need weeding, and care for me tenderly where I need your tender care. I love you, O Gardner of my soul. In the tenderness of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)*