Outside these chambers, Lord, in piles and drifts and ruts and flurries are a few jillion snowflakes,
and, although every single one of them is composed of white,
cold H20,
if we can believe the scientists, no two of those flakes is quite
the same. The pattern of each tiny crystal is unique.
So it is with these weekly meetings, Lord.
For those of us who have been doing them a long time,
there is a dulling sameness about them.
After all, there are only so many ways to swing a gavel or read
a proclamation, and even Kel hasn’t figured out a way to
make the consent agenda scintillate with verve and
excitement.
But like the snowflakes, Lord, despite all of their uniformity, no two
of these meetings is ever quite the same.
Some are loud and live and filled with endless wrangling.
Others, like today’s, may be short and tame.
Help us, Lord, never to forget that every time we meet in these
chambers we touch many different lives in often unseen ways.
Like the snowflakes and the meetings, Lord, our invocations from this
podium from week to week also tend to be very much he
same.
For the need of the moment seldom differs, Lord. We need
Your Presence,
Your wisdom,
Your guidance, and
Your grace.
For all of these we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.