Morning prayer · 10 December

Sit at your feet

A small bird on a windowsill tilts its head, perfectly still, listening toward an open window rather than flying off, with the morning light outside slightly blurred behind the sharp clear figure of the bird itself.

My Lord, give me a clean conscience, because only that can receive what you put in my heart and help it grow. My ears are too dull to hear your voice. My eyes are too dim to see your signs. Only you can sharpen my hearing, clear my sight, and make my heart clean and new. Teach me, like Mary, to sit at your feet and listen to your word. Give me true wisdom, that looks for your will by prayer and quiet thought, by talking with you, more than by reading and reasoning. Help me tell your voice from strangers’ voices, to rest on it and seek it first. And answer me through my own mind, as I worship and rely on you, far above it. Amen.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

John 10:4 (BSB)

Adapted from John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions (1893), in plain words. The verse is from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Drawing: Mutter.