Teach Me to Look Back, Lord

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

     surely I have a delightful inheritance.

(Psalm 16:6)

Teach me to look backwards, O Lord.

Teach me to look back at my life 

as I have lived it thus far.

I don’t want to relive the “good old days;”

I’m not looking for a “do-over”

for the mistakes I have made;

I don’t long for happier times.

That’s not why I want for you to

teach me to look backwards, O God.

Teach me to look backwards,

so I can see how you have blessed me;

teach me to look backwards,

so I can see your providential hand

upon all my days.

If I look back at my life, O God,

surely I will see that 

the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.

If I look back at my life, O God,

surely I will see your love in more abundance

than I ever realized.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, or so they say.

Give me eyes to see

how you have blessed me beyond measure,

and how you have brought me to today.

Teach me to look backwards, O God,

so I can live today with gratitude,

and so I may have hope for tomorrow

and all the tomorrows thereafter.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Teach me to look backwards, O God,

that I may praise you all of my days.

Through Christ, my Lord. Amen.

During the season of Lent I am “praying with David,” using prayers found in the psalms as inspiration for personal prayers.