God Understands the Weakness of Our Love

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

 for he knows how we are formed,

he remembers that we are dust.    

 Psalm 103:13-13

I am convinced that we all love God much more than we realize.  I am also confident that the Lord knows this to be true.  With this assumption in mind, I would like to share a prayer I recently wrote that you might identify with as well.  I hope it will encourage your confidence that God understands the weakness of our love—that He remembers that we are dust.  I hope it will also lessen the guilt we often feel from the many contradictions we see in ourselves.  If you have faith that these words apply to you I invite you to pray them with me.

Lord, my God, I love You more than anything
though I often succumb to countless forces within me
that contradict this.
But though the choices I make each day
seem to negate my love for You,
I know this is not the case, and that You understand.

I love You more than anything
and yet I love so many things more often than You.
But again I know You understand
that my love for You is nevertheless true.

I know, and so do You,
that even in my seeking elsewhere
I am really seeking You.
That in all these lesser things I desire,
It is You, in fact, that I truly want.

My love for You is first in my heart
though I am quite aware
of how many other ‘firsts’ are there as well.
But again, I am convinced that You already know this.

Though I am often absent from You,
my love for You never diminishes.
It always recovers with a strength
that pales all other loves.
It is more supreme in my life than I realize,
though it has not supremely vanquished me.
And You know that my desire is that it do so

I love You more than anything.
And when I am in my right mind
I know this to be true.
But You know it all the time.

You know my love for You
far exceeds my feeble expressions of it.

I thank You all the more for understanding
my plight as a weak creature of Yours.

Amen.

– Rob Des Cotes, Imago Dei October 9, 2014 meditation

“I greet him the days I meet him,
and bless when I understand.”
-Gerard Manley Hopkins