Daughters of the King

We Pray For You

For His Sake
I am but one, but I am one.
I cannot do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, I ought to do, by the grace of God I will do.
Lord, what will you have me do?
                     --the motto of the Order of the Daughters of the King

Different days, different phrases speak to me. Most of the time, it's the "I cannot do everything" part that I repeat like a mantra. But lately, it seems it's the "Lord, what will you have me do?" part. Especially when considering what the roll of the Order of the Daughters of the King should be here at Trinity.

The Order is a group of women here at Trinity, and across the earth, who meet for prayer and study and support of one another's journey. The Daughters are called to a Rule of Life of the Order, which includes a Rule of Prayer and a Rule of Service.

The "service" part is easy at Trinity. If you threw a stick around here you'd hit and bounce it off three or four or seven things to do and be involved in before the stick ever hit the ground. And as I look around our wonderful group of Daughters, I see that we've all thrown the stick a time or two and hit our marks. So, we already have the Rule of Service covered in our ranks and I think that makes us fairly normal around here.

But the Rule of Prayer… that's the special thing that comes to mind when I think of our presence here in this parish. And I wonder, do you know that we pray for you? We do. Every day.

Corporately, as Daughters, we pray every day for the unity of Christ's Church, for the spread of Christ's Kingdom, for the spiritual growth of our parish and our clergy, for God's blessing on us all, and for the grace to follow our Rule. Daughters all over the world pray for these each day.

More intimately, within our own chapter, we pray for you in our shared prayer time together and in our daily prayer lives. We pray for individual needs, as we know them. For the needs we have no knowledge of, we offer you all to God each time we gather, praying for God to meet you wherever you are in your life and to bring whatever calm your soul requires.

At our clergy's request, for Trinity, we pray for open doors for ministry that take us in God's direction and not our own. We pray that reconciliation begins wherever it is needed in our own congregation and from there, out into the world. We pray for clarity about our mission as the body of Christ in the here and now. And, we pray for our clergy and staff at this great spiritual home. We pray that God will use their lives for God's purpose in this place.

We pray especially for Kevin and Alma and their families. They are such beautiful lights of Christ in our midst. And they absorb so much of our hurt and anger and discontent and confusion, not only from our corporate life together at Trinity, but also from our own personal lives. We pray for God to keep them whole and uplifted and hopeful and joyful in the midst of our messy lives and selves we bring to their doorsteps. We pray for God to shore up their sense of humor and patience in the face of our not always so lovingly intentioned suggestions and comments and observations. And we pray for God to swell their love for us all, in spite of and because of who we are. Remember them in your own prayers as well.

So, that's what we do at Trinity when, as Daughters, we consider, "Lord what will you have me do?" We pray for you. Every day. Every hour, somewhere, a prayer is sent Heavenward for you. Really, just for you. And for me. It makes breathing easier, doesn't it?

For His Sake,
Melanie Miller
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
The Order of the Daughters of the King