He said to me,

"This is the table

   that is before the LORD."

         Ezekiel 41. 22

(This is the break of

            a new day,

  an altar before the LORD.

Did it even occur to me

   to pray over it first

   before I launch into it?

To weave into these hours

         Coram Deo,

  before the face of God?

Our day is not offered to Him

        as a sacrifice,

but received from Him

       as a blessing,

an opportunity to

     both serve and abide,

even in what we

           do not understand.)

O LORD,

We come before You,

not just with

       our self-made plans

and ideas of what

           You should do,

but we hand over our hearts

   that Your Spirit

   would pour over us,

infiltrate,

infect,

marinate away our hardness,

change us from

           the inside out.

Help us to not leave undone

   what would be pleasing

              in Your sight.

May our love for You

  define what we do and say

and how we seek

     to love others today

     in unexpected ways.

Help us to not leave empty

    the table before You,

help us to not leave

     You just standing there.