Sometimes we pay lip service to "following" and we believe it in theory but we find ourselves hesitant to actually "follow" in practice because we want to be in the lead, because we want to be “winners” in our competitive culture. And sometimes in our sincere, well-intentioned effort to follow, we get sidetracked into performance-mode, into striving to prove our value and worth.
Remind us that we don't have to seek our worth in status, prestige, achievement, or possessions. Remind us that we don't need to try to prove that we deserve your love or strive to earn it. Help us to remember that you created everything and called it "good," and therefore you see us all as inherently precious and valuable just by virtue of existing!
Thank you for being a God of infinite love; whose mercy never runs out and whose grace is bottomless. Out of our gratitude for that grace, lead us to your work of renewing and redeeming your world, to truly find our lives by losing the prideful ambition of our egos.
Amen
