Prayer for grandmothers

Father, Your Word says You have set me apart, kept me, and called me. I read that this morning and saw that I am still all three, even now. The keeping is what I needed today.

There are mornings when I feel less called and more forgotten. Friends do not visit. The church has moved on to younger leaders. The world does not ask for an old woman's thoughts. But You did not say I would always feel called. You said I am kept.

Kept is a Shepherd's word. It is what You do for a sheep that has wandered, or got caught in a fence, or sat down because it was too tired to walk.

Keep me today. Keep me from the small bitterness that comes when the children do not call. Keep me from picking a fight with a friend just to hear a voice. Keep me in the same patient love You have shown me since I was young and sat alone in the back row of a quiet church.

You called me then. You have kept me every day since. Do it again today.

Amen.