2 Corinthians 4:7-12,16-18
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Lord help me to know myself, that I am like an earthen jar, a common, lowly jar of clay, made of earth; all my strength and vitality, sinew and blood, destined to return to soil one day. Help me never trust this frail frame; keep me from the folly of investing, overloading this insecure life with cargo it cannot hold, with hopes, longings, cravings never meant to be satisfied here, with plans, agendas and fantasies which can only be earned at the peril of my soul, destruction of others...

Thank you for the treasure. The treasure of your love, the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord, the infinite treasure of eternal salvation, the hope of heaven, the assurance that your grace will ultimately triumph, and will finally lead me home the many precious people to share the journey with, the many people you bless me with, some obvious, some hidden...

Help me to know that nothing can happen in this life which can make my life ultimately tragic; that nothing can happen to me which changes the fact that my life is essentially triumphant because of Jesus.

Lord the only thing alive about me is your Spirit. Help me to die, so that your life may be revealed through this already decaying body. Lord, I am still so alive. I spring to action, reaction, enthusiasm .. only when my ego stands to gain; I come alive only when I see something to pamper my body, boost my pride, enlarge my ego, increase my comforts, further my selfish agenda.

Lord, help me to see that these things are pale, cold, dead things. Lord, help me to sense the constricting chains of bondage pursuing these things brings. Lord, I need to be slain; All that is man made within me demolished that the self which you made in your image can emerge; My pride broken; my pretense exposed; my masks stripped. All that is within me needs to be shaken, so that only that which is unshakable will remain (Heb 12:27);

Have mercy on our friends, on this world, all those who are constantly rebelling against death and denying the decay already at work in their aging bodies, their waning lives. They think if they use enough make up, or drive certain cars, or have certain things, or pursue thrilling activities, that somehow they can suppress the smell of their own decomposition.

Lord, help the irrepressible life of Christ shine out through the cracks in this earthen jar. Help me to show others through my life that there is a wonder, a Life, a joy, a strength at work in me. Help me to show the world that though I am frail, hard pressed and perplexed, that there is a Life within me which keeps me afloat, not despairing, not crushed, not abandoned, May the Life of Jesus be revealed through my life.

Lord, help me to submit to the outward wasting away. I so often find myself fighting this good death; avoiding the wilderness; trying so hard to avoid the Surgeon's knife. Lord, I want inward renewal but run away from outward pruning. Lord, I flee from the light and momentary troubles and therefore miss out on glory, the eternal glory which your outrageously generous grace desires so much to cloth me with. Lord, help me to weigh things right; help me to see the true nature of things; help me to know that the eternal glory which is your wild vision for me far, far, far outweighs a hundred wildernesses, a thousand set backs, a million pains.

Let your glory shine in this undeserving earthen vessel. It is, in spite of all my wanderings and confusions, my truest and deepest longing.