Fading flower

The BSF passage today is Isaiah 40:6-8, a famous set of verses. 


⁶A voice says, "Cry!"
   And I said, "What shall I cry?"
 All flesh is grass,
   and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
⁷The grass withers, the flower fades
   when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
   surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades,
   but the word of our God will stand forever.


Among the BSF homework questions is this one: What truths do you learn from these verses about what brings lasting satisfaction in life?


What brings lasting satisfaction in life is to "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing upon His beauty and inquiring at His temple." In other words, reading scripture and meditating on it, and letting it lead my life. 


How can I carry out Your wishes for Lily's schooling? I don't know if there is a right answer or a wrong answer. But if I have her do kindergarten twice, You will see her through. It will be all right. She is Yours.


I am uncomfortable about our debt. Your word warns against debt. But Your word also counsels me to submit to my husband, who's put us in debt and isn't as concerned as I am about getting us out of it. Show me how to walk this delicate line. Show me how to love and honor him, how to support him in the way he needs. He leads our family. I have to hang back and trust that He will lead us in the right direction. You are already beginning to work in His life. Thank you for the men's retreat, and for the men's bible study and music ministry. Show me my part in this.


I pray for my upcoming cruise with Sara. All that time to talk. I want to be a comfort to her, to help her. How can I help her? One possible way to deal with her despair is to stop seeing marriage as a quest. She can and should keep dating, but she can make an effort not to talk about it, or even consider it too much. Concentrate on other goals while also dating. She needs to feel reassured that all is not lost, and that this deadline is a self-imposed one. 


I pray for Lee and the children while I am away. Comfort the girls without their mom around, especially Lily who is still so attached to me. I pray for protection over all of us, so that we'll be reunited again on the 12th. They are so, so, so precious to me. 


I pray for my involvement at church. How am I meant to fit in there? Show me what You have for me to do. 


I pray for Sara to have an experience with Jesus by this Saturday, February 5. And I pray that You will show me an opportunity to write a book that glorifies You by this September.


In Your son's name I pray,
Amen