RESTORE
This chapter from the BFG Handbook (Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching) presents the gospel through a new "Expression" of God’s Love to RESTORE the Truth.
Chapter 29 from the BFG Handbook (Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching) presents the gospel through a new “Expression” of God’s Love to RESTORE people to the Truth.
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Chapter 29: Better Left Alone
Can you better the world? 1
I know that it cannot be done
The world is a sacred vessel
You can neither control nor improve it
If you try to change it, you will fail
If you hold on to it, you will lose it
In fact, consider the things of nature: 1
Some things either lead or follow
Some things either breathe fast or slow
Some things either have strength or weakness
Some things either remain standing or are taken down
Therefore, the wise avoid extremes, excess, and extravagance 2
A World Only God Can Remake
“Can you better the world?
I know that it cannot be done”
Chapter 29 of the Christian edition of the Tao Te Ching speaks to the futility of attempting to control or improve the world according to human desires. It emphasizes that the world is a sacred vessel that cannot be tampered with, and if one tries to force change upon it or hold onto it too tightly, they will ultimately fail. From a Christian perspective, this resonates with the understanding that God’s sovereignty governs all things. Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 teaches that there is a time for everything under heaven, acknowledging that human efforts to control or change the natural course of life are futile against God’s will. Job 38:1-41 further illustrates this by highlighting God’s control over creation and the limitations of human understanding.
The chapter begins with a question that sounds noble: “Can you better the world?” Many of us carry that hope, and much of it is good. Christ does send us to love, to serve and to work for justice. But the chapter answers with honesty about our limits. On our own, by force and by plan alone, we cannot remake what God has made. Job learned this when God spoke to him out of the storm, and he answered with humble trust.
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
Job 42:2ESV
So the Christian reading is not that our work is pointless. It is that the world’s true renewal is God’s work first. We share in it the way a child shares in a parent’s work: by receiving, helping and trusting. The last word on the world belongs to Christ, who does not simply patch it up but makes it new.
“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”…”
Revelation 21:5ESV
“Prayer of supplication is an expression of a heart that trusts in God and realizes that of itself it can do nothing.”Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate 154
“Divine providence works also through the actions of creatures. To human beings God grants the ability to co-operate freely with his plans.”Catechism 323
The Church holds both truths together: we cannot remake the world by our own power, yet God freely invites us to share in His work as His fellow workers.
Maybe it is the news, your city, your family or your own habits. You make a plan to fix it, you push hard for a week, and then you feel worse than before. Chapter 29 asks the honest question, “Can you better the world?” and the answer sets us free. You were never meant to carry the whole thing. God is already at work, and He invites you to do your small part with love: one phone call, one honest prayer, one kind act. The rest is His.
Try this today: Name one thing you have been trying to fix alone, and tell God in a short prayer that it is His first.
The Sacred Vessel
“The world is a sacred vessel
You can neither control nor improve it”
“The world is a sacred vessel.” A vessel is made by someone and for something, and it holds what is precious. Scripture says the same of creation: it belongs to God and carries His glory. Nothing in it is ours by right. We are guests in the house of a Father who made every corner of it with care and wisdom.
“O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”
Psalm 104:24ESV
Then comes the hard line: “You can neither control nor improve it.” This does not mean we do nothing. In Eden, God placed the first man in the garden to work it and take care of it. Caring is not controlling. A gardener tends a garden but cannot make a single seed grow. When we treat the world, or the people in it, as things to master and remake to our liking, we damage what God called good.
“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.”
Genesis 2:15NRSVue
So the line calls us to reverence. We handle the world, our bodies, our families and our time the way we would carry something holy in church: gently, gratefully, with both hands, and always aware of whose it really is.
“Nature is usually seen as a system which can be studied, understood and controlled, whereas creation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all…”Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 76
“Man’s dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.”Catechism 2415
You redo your friend’s plan for her. You rearrange the way your spouse loads the dishwasher. You keep editing your kids, your coworkers and even your own face in every photo. Little by little, everything becomes a project to manage. Chapter 29 says, “The world is a sacred vessel.” People are not projects. Creation is not a draft waiting for our edits. When we stop trying to control what is holy, we finally start to see how good it already is.
Try this today: Today, let one person do something their own way without correcting them, and thank God for them.
Forcing and Grasping
“If you try to change it, you will fail
If you hold on to it, you will lose it”
The chapter names two ways we go wrong. The first is forcing: “If you try to change it, you will fail.” We try to bend people and situations to our will. Even good goals turn sour when we chase them with pressure instead of prayer. Jesus never forced anyone. He invited, He waited, and He let the rich young man walk away sad.
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain…”
Psalm 127:1NRSVue
The second is grasping: “If you hold on to it, you will lose it.” We clutch money, status, comfort, a relationship or a plan, and the tighter we hold, the more anxious we become. Jesus told of a rich man who filled his barns and planned to take life easy, never knowing that very night would be his last.
“…Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
Luke 12:15NRSVue
The answer to both is trust. We still work, plan and care, but we let go of the outcome. Open hands are not empty hands. They are hands ready to receive what the Father gives, and free to give it away again.
“In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the filial trust that cooperates with our Father’s providence. He is not inviting us to idleness, but wants to relieve us from nagging worry and preoccupation.”Catechism 2830
“When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume.”Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 204
You check his location again. You reread the email you sent your boss, then send a follow-up to the follow-up. You refresh the bank app, the scale, the comments. It feels like being responsible, but often it is fear holding on. Chapter 29 is blunt: “If you hold on to it, you will lose it.” The thing we grip hardest, a child, a job, a reputation, is often the thing we squeeze the life out of. Trust lets it breathe again.
Try this today: Notice one thing you keep checking today, put the phone down, and pray, “Jesus, I trust You with this.”
The Rhythms of Creation
“In fact, consider the things of nature:
Some things either lead or follow
Some things either breathe fast or slow”
The chapter also explores the idea that nature operates according to its own rhythms, with things either leading or following, breathing fast or slow, being strong or weak, and standing or falling. This mirrors the Christian recognition that creation operates according to God’s perfect order, and humankind is part of that order, not its master. In the New Testament, Jesus teaches this trust in God’s sovereignty in Matthew 6:25-34, where He encourages His followers not to worry about their needs because God knows and provides for them, much like how He takes care of the birds and the flowers.
“Consider the things of nature,” the chapter says, and Jesus says almost the same: look at the birds, see how the flowers grow. Nature is a quiet teacher. The book of Ecclesiastes, which this line points to, lists the seasons of a human life, each one given its own proper time by God.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2ESV
“Some things either lead or follow.” Geese take turns at the front of the flock. In a family, a parish or a team, there are seasons to step up and seasons to step back. Neither is better; both serve the whole. Even Jesus, the Lord of all, said He came not to be served but to serve.
“Some things either breathe fast or slow.” A hummingbird’s heart races, while an oak grows for centuries. God made both speeds. Our culture prizes only fast, but the Creator who rested on the seventh day built slowness into the world on purpose.
“God willed the diversity of his creatures and their own particular goodness, their interdependence and their order.”Catechism 353
“This responsibility for God’s earth means that human beings, endowed with intelligence, must respect the laws of nature and the delicate equilibria existing between the creatures of this world…”Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 68
Your feed says everyone is ahead of you: engaged, promoted, traveling, finished with school, buying houses. Your own life feels slow, or maybe it is racing and you cannot catch your breath. Chapter 29 says, “Some things either breathe fast or slow.” God did not make every life to move at the same speed. A season of following is not failure, and a slow season is not wasted. The oak and the hummingbird are both right on time.
Try this today: Step outside for a few minutes today, notice something in nature that moves slowly, and thank God for His timing in your life.
Strong and Weak, Standing and Fallen
“Some things either have strength or weakness
Some things either remain standing or are taken down”
“Some things either have strength or weakness.” We admire the strong and hide our weak spots. But in God’s design, weakness is never the end of the story. St. Paul begged God to take away a painful weakness, and God answered him with a promise instead of a quick fix.
“but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”…”
2 Corinthians 12:9NRSVue
“Some things either remain standing or are taken down.” Trees fall in storms. Careers end. Health fades. Kingdoms rise and pass away. The chapter does not pretend otherwise. Christians are not promised a life where nothing ever falls, but a God who stays with us when it does.
“We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed”
2 Corinthians 4:8-9NRSVue
The clearest proof is the Cross. Jesus was taken down from it, dead, and laid in a tomb. Everything looked lost. On the third day He rose. Because of Him, nothing that falls in God’s hands is ever finished.
“God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil.”Catechism 272
“Nothing can come but that that God wills. … whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best.”St. Thomas More, quoted in Catechism 313
St. Thomas More wrote these words to comfort his daughter shortly before his martyrdom, when everything in his life was being taken down.
The diagnosis. The layoff email. The friendship that quietly ended. The season your team lost every game. Some weeks it feels like everything you built is being taken down. Chapter 29 does not hide this: “Some things either remain standing or are taken down.” But you are not the one holding up the sky. When you are weak, Christ’s strength can rest on you. When something falls, God is already at work in the ruins, just as He was at the empty tomb.
Try this today: Tell God honestly about one weakness you usually hide, and ask Him to show His strength there.
The Wisdom of Enough
“Therefore, the wise avoid extremes, excess, and extravagance”
The call for the wise to avoid extremes, excess, and extravagance aligns with the Christian teachings on moderation and contentment. Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 advises avoiding extremes, as both wisdom and folly have their pitfalls, emphasizing the need for balance in life. The Christian perspective underscores that living in harmony with God’s will means not overextending oneself in pursuit of wealth, power, or personal success but embracing humility, contentment, and a simple life, as taught by Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30. In this light, Chapter 29 serves as a reminder that true peace and fulfillment come from submitting to God’s wisdom and trusting that He alone governs the world and its processes.
The word “Therefore” ties the whole chapter together. Because the world is God’s sacred vessel, and because every creature has its season, the wise do not swing to extremes. The passage from Ecclesiastes that this line points to ends with words that could sum up the chapter.
“It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand…”
Ecclesiastes 7:18ESV
Extremes show up everywhere: working nonstop or doing nothing, all-or-nothing diets, spending sprees followed by guilt, outrage online. Excess is having far more than we need while others go without. Extravagance is living to impress. The Christian answer is not misery but balance, the virtue the Church calls temperance, and a joyful contentment rooted in God.
Jesus lived this. He feasted at weddings and fasted in the desert. He owned little and gave everything. His way is not the way of more, but the way of enough, with room left over for God and for the poor.
“Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need”
Proverbs 30:8NRSVue
“Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods.”Catechism 1838
“Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish use…”Catechism 2445
A sale ends at midnight, so you buy three. You binge a whole season on a work night. You go from no exercise to a punishing plan, then quit within a week. You are either all in or all out, with your faith, your diet, your money, even your friendships. Chapter 29 offers a quieter wisdom: “the wise avoid extremes, excess, and extravagance.” Balance is not boring. It is what lets you keep going, with energy left for God and for the people who need you.
Try this today: Before you buy anything extra today, pause and ask: “Do I need this, or does someone else need it more?”
Living the Chapter
The whole chapter, put into practice
Chapter 29 is not a call to give up on the world. It is a call to stop trying to own it. We still work, love, serve, build and pray. But we do it with open hands, as stewards of a sacred vessel that belongs to God, trusting Him with the results we cannot control.
So we live by the chapter’s rhythm. We follow Christ, who led by serving. We breathe slow as well as fast. We let God be strong in our weakness. We trust Him when things are taken down. And we choose enough over excess, so there is room in our lives for Him and for others.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33NRSVue
“Christ invites us to filial trust in the providence of our heavenly Father… and St. Peter the apostle repeats: ‘Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you’…”Catechism 322
“Nature expresses a design of love and truth. It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God as the setting for our life.”Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate 48
Picture a Monday with open hands. You still answer emails, drive the kids, cook dinner and pay bills. But you begin the day by giving it to God. You let a coworker lead the meeting. You take a slow walk at lunch. You skip the extra purchase and give that money to someone in need. When the plan falls apart in the afternoon, you breathe, pray and trust. Nothing about the day is dramatic. Everything about it is held.
Try this today: Tonight, look back on your day, name one moment you tried to control and one moment you trusted God, and thank Him for both.
RENEWAL
The Trinitarian M.A.P. is the method for RENEWAL, where God’s Love shapes our MINDSET, Trust in the Son directs our AIM, and Faith in the Holy Spirit guides our PRACTICE.
This chapter offers a new “Method” for the New Evangelization to RENEW our hearts and minds through the Trinitarian M.A.P. Bring this chapter into your day with the BFG Companion App. Pick Chapter 29 and an area of your life, and get Guidance made for you.
Renewal starts in the mind. Chapter 29 opens with a question many of us ask in secret: “Can you better the world?” We look at the news, our family and our own habits, and we want to fix it all, fast. Then the chapter gives us a different starting point: “The world is a sacred vessel.” It belongs to the Father who made it, not to us. As the psalm says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). A renewed mind begins here: this world, and my life in it, rests in hands far wiser than mine.
That changes how we carry our worries. The chapter warns, “You can neither control nor improve it,” and the Father does not say this to make us feel small. He says it to set us free. Jesus points to the birds and the wildflowers, cared for without a single anxious thought (Matthew 6:26-30). The Father who feeds them knows what we need. So we stop thinking of ourselves as the ones who hold the world together, and we start thinking like children who trust a good Father.
Try this: When a worry grips you today, open your hands and pray: “Father, this is Yours before it is mine.”
Psalm 24:1NRSVue “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it”
Matthew 6:26NRSVue “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
More Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:14 · Proverbs 19:21
A renewed mind needs a direction. Chapter 29 warns, “If you hold on to it, you will lose it,” and Jesus says almost the same thing: “Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it” (Luke 17:33, NRSVue). So we stop aiming at holding on, whether to money, image, control or even the people we love. We aim at Christ, who held nothing back. On the Cross He let go of everything, and the Father raised Him up. That is the target: not a tighter grip, but a heart that belongs to Him.
The chapter also says, “Some things either lead or follow.” Jesus led by following. He did only what He saw the Father doing, and He told His friends that “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43). Our aim is not to always be in front, always right, always in charge. Some days God asks us to lead; many days He asks us to follow, quietly and faithfully. Either way, we keep our eyes on the Son and walk where He walks.
Try this: In one conversation today, let the other person lead, and listen the way Jesus would.
Luke 17:33NRSVue “Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.”
Mark 10:43-44NRSVue “But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
More Scripture: John 3:30 · Philippians 2:7
Renewal becomes real in daily life. Chapter 29 notices that “Some things either breathe fast or slow.” Our days often run only fast: alarms, notifications, deadlines, one more task before bed. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God, and He teaches us a slower rhythm too. Jesus told His tired friends, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). So we practice breathing with God: a pause before we answer, a quiet minute before the day starts, Sunday kept as a day of rest.
The chapter ends, “Therefore, the wise avoid extremes, excess, and extravagance.” The Spirit grows self-control in us, one of His fruits (Galatians 5:22-23), and it shows up in small choices: one helping, not three; one episode, not the whole season; the purchase we skip because we already have enough. St. Paul learned “to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11). Living with enough is not a lesser life. It leaves room for God, for people and for peace.
Try this: Pick one thing you tend to overdo, like food, scrolling, spending or work, take a little less of it today, and offer that space to God.
Mark 6:31NRSVue “He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”…”
Philippians 4:11NRSVue “Not that I am referring to being in need, for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.”
More Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-7 · Ecclesiastes 5:10
In short: think humbly, aim at what is eternal, live by the Spirit. The world is a sacred vessel in the Father’s hands: loosen your grip, follow the Son who held nothing back, and let the Spirit teach you to breathe slow and live with enough.
RESPOND
Renewal brings the transformation of our spirit with ardor, empowering us to RESPOND to the call of holiness and make disciples of all nations. This encourages meaningful dialogue to embrace shared truths that transcend cultural and religious boundaries.
Renewal does not stay at home. When God loosens our grip, He sends us out with open hands. Chapter 29 asks, “Can you better the world?” and answers honestly: not by force, and not by holding on. Christians do not change the world by controlling it; we serve it, love it and point it to the One who makes all things new. We cannot fix the world, but we can bring it to the One who holds it.
In 1983, Saint John Paul II called the Church to an evangelization that is “new in its ardor, new in its methods, new in its expression.” The Gospel never changes. The way we carry it must be alive for our time. Chapter 29 shows why: a restless, overworked world that tries to control everything needs fresh words about a Father who already holds it as “a sacred vessel.”
Ardor is the fire of a heart that has been loved by God. People feel it before they hear a single word. Chapter 29 warns, “If you try to change it, you will fail.” The fire of mission is not our own pressure to fix people; it is God’s love burning quietly in a heart that trusts Him.
Use the words people use today: simple, honest and personal. Share your story, not a lecture. Chapter 29 says some things “breathe fast or slow,” so match the pace of the person in front of you instead of rushing them.
Meet people where they are: on the phone in their hand. The BFG Handbook and the BFG Companion turn one conversation into a path to Christ and His Church. Chapter 29 reminds us that we cannot force change on anyone. Our tools do not push; they offer, and they leave the growing to God.
Use the words people use today: simple, honest and personal. Share your story, not a lecture. Chapter 29 says some things “breathe fast or slow,” so match the pace of the person in front of you instead of rushing them.
What my life was like before I really met Jesus.
How He met me, and the moment things began to change.
What is different now, and the hope I carry. Like the chapter’s “If you hold on to it, you will lose it,” what did God teach you when you finally let go of something?
Meet people where they are: on the phone in their hand. The BFG Handbook and the BFG Companion turn one conversation into a path to Christ and His Church. Chapter 29 reminds us that we cannot force change on anyone. Our tools do not push; they offer, and they leave the growing to God.
Every chapter has its own song and is written in a language people of every faith can understand. A doorway for dialogue. Chapter 29, Better Left Alone, helps anyone worn out from trying to control everything, or caught in the endless pull of more.
A friend shares a struggle. Together, pick a chapter and an area of life (start with Chapter 29 when someone is anxious about what they cannot control, or feels they never have enough). In seconds: a reflection, the M.A.P., a saint, a prayer, Scripture, a song and a church nearby. Send it by email, PDF or a share link.
Hard question? Ask it together. Answers are grounded in Catholic teaching, the saints and the BFG Handbook. Talk or type. Try asking together: “How do I stop trying to control everything and actually trust God?”
Pray the Rosary with a guided voice, the daily mysteries and beads that follow along. Pray it with someone, even over the phone. Mary’s yes to God’s plan is the opposite of grasping, and praying the mysteries with her teaches the open hands Chapter 29 asks for.
Catholic churches near anyone, with Mass and Confession times, directions, and one tap to add a time to the calendar. Every conversation can end at a church door. There, before the tabernacle, we stop trying to run the world for a while and let the One who holds it hold us.
Morning, midday and evening prayer reminders, a daily streak and a steady prayer rhythm help a new believer keep going. A gentle rhythm of prayer that lets your day “breathe slow” as well as fast.
Free to start, no card needed. Read aloud in 48 languages.
One tool that walks with a person from the first question to the church door.
Jesus sent His apostles first to Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Start where you are. Chapter 29 calls the world “a sacred vessel,” so start with the few people God has placed in your hands, not the whole world at once.
- Pray the Rosary together on Pray My Rosary.
- Bless your children at bedtime.
- Share a Guidance with a spouse or child who is struggling.
- Find Sunday Mass times together with Church Finder.
- Read Chapter 29 at dinner and ask: “What are we trying to control that we could hand to God this week?”
- Text a verse from your Guidance.
- Ask, “How can I pray for you?” and pray right then.
- Invite a friend to Mass, then go for coffee.
- Send the line: “The world is a sacred vessel,” and ask what it means to them.
- Be the calm, kind one.
- Pray on your lunch break with a reminder.
- Start a small chapter group that meets once a week. Begin with Chapter 29, Better Left Alone.
- Respect the rules: invite, never push.
- Listen for the moment: “Things have been hard.”
- Offer: “Can I send you something that helped me?”
- Share the Chapter 29 song.
- Ask good questions and really listen.
- Share your three-part story.
- Open Ask BFG together when a question comes up.
- When a friend is stressed about something out of their hands, share the line “If you hold on to it, you will lose it,” and offer to pray with them.
- Visit the sick, the elderly and the lonely; pray the Rosary with them.
- Serve at a food bank.
- Welcome newcomers at Mass.
- Join your parish evangelization team.
- Ask shops, cafés and offices to display a BFG card with a QR code.
- Offer a short lunch talk on faith at work.
- Business owners: offer the Companion to staff as a free gift, never a requirement.
- Go where people already gather, and be the friendly one who listens.
- Pray quietly for the people around you.
- When a talk turns real, share a Guidance or the chapter song.
- Wear or carry a simple sign of your faith, like a cross or a rosary, that can start a conversation.
- On a hike or in a park, notice what the chapter notices, that some things “breathe fast or slow,” and share how God set those rhythms.
- Host a Chapter 29 “Better Left Alone” night, a Handbook chapter night, a Rosary night or an “Ask Anything” faith night.
- Show the Companion on a big screen and let people try it.
- We did this at our free conference, The New Evangelization in the Age of AI, at Christ Cathedral.
- Share a Guidance, a chapter song or a Scripture card. Try: “The world is a sacred vessel. If you hold on to it, you will lose it.”
- One post can reach someone you will never meet.
- Join a parish or diocese mission trip.
- The Companion speaks 48 languages, so you leave behind something that keeps speaking after you go home.
- Every culture knows the rhythms of nature that Chapter 29 points to, a natural bridge to the Creator who set them in place.
- Your parish ministries, the Legion of Mary, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Catholic Charities, prison, hospital and campus ministries, and mission groups.
- Bring the BFG tools to their work.
You will not fix everyone you meet, and you are not asked to. Chapter 29 says the world is “a sacred vessel,” held by God, not by us. So go lightly. Plant the seed, serve the person in front of you, and leave the harvest to Him. The same Spirit who renewed you now sends you, with open hands and a quiet heart, into a world that only God can make new.
Father, who holds the world like a sacred vessel, Holy Spirit, set my heart on fire. Jesus, send me to the one You love. Father, make me Your witness today. Amen.
NRSVue © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.