Our God and God of all people:
On this sacred day – these legislators are focused on the difficult task of approving a $46.8 Billion budget for our beautiful State of Colorado. While many perceive the budgeting process as a tedious wrangling of numbers from one column to another, there is another perspective. Instead of seeing columns, figures and numbers, I humbly suggest that we also consider the fact that each dollar allocated can be an opportunity to bring about change and instill hope in the lives of all too many of our citizens whose capacity for wonder is compromised by the brutal struggle for daily existence.
Our budgets reflect our values.
Our values color our vision of the world around us.
Our vision determines the way we fulfill the sacred responsibilities that have been entrusted to us – as legislators, citizens and servants of a God who holds us to high standards of compassion and cooperation.
On this day of difficult and all too often painful choices, let us pray that in addition to numbers, these lawmakers might see faces of the men, women and children who are affected by each column in the balance sheet and each line item that is added or subtracted before the final results are tallied.
At the end of this process, may all of these dedicated public servants be able to find peace in the knowledge they have done all that they could to make our world, our state, our neighborhoods, our homes – ourselves – just a little bit better.
May politics and pride be no stumbling block to the achievement of the shared goal of working to perfect this all-too imperfect world.
God, we thank you for the opportunities You have given us to make a difference. May we continue to go and grow from strength to strength.
AMEN
