An INTJ's Prayer of Petition

Hey, everyone.

So, for this week I have something very different from the last two weeks. As it is Advent, the season in which we prepare for the coming of Jesus, I decided to write this keen prayer for INTJs as well as balance out the malicious and salacious things I wrote the previous two weeks. Hopefully, it serves INTJs in all the ways they need.

***

Dear Lord,

You know what sort of person I am, and what my soul desires.
You know that I pursue perfection though I may never attain it,
Since I know you are perfection, I therefore pursue you;
Please keep my mind and heart ever focused on you,
And I implore you to deliver me from my weaknesses and perfect my strengths.

[Ni]
Guard my mind from the afflictions of the world and the Devil;
Keep it sharp and clear so I may continue to perceive
the depths of the known and unknown,
And keep my mind ever fixed on Your timeless truths.

[Te]
Keep my rationale safe from the afflictions of the world and the Devil;
Help me to keep my balance and health of mind
so I may know the divine logic
And apply it to my life to be as effective in my vocation as you desire me to be.

[Fi]
Protect my integrity from the afflictions of the world and the Devil;
Keep me true to myself and my values,
those which are based on Your mercy and justice,
And keep me strong, especially in those moments when I stand alone.

[Se]
Safeguard my virtue from the afflictions of the world and the Devil;
Teach me to value, explore, and protect the world You have created
without falling to its wiles and temptations,
And show me how to be present without being possessed.

All this, I ask in Your name--
To commune with You ultimately,
To achieve glorious Victory,
To make the angels sing and the devils cry,
To not surrender my soul to one so weak, he has already been defeated.

Amen

***

Hopefully, someone finds this useful. I know I do as it matches everything an INTJ would look for in moment of petition. Next week, hopefully I'll cover why socialization is so important for INTJs, however I have no idea when it'll be out. The holidays do that to my schedule. If you want to make sure you don't miss it, please consider joining my mailing list or to make sure I release it on time, support me on Patreon. I take things more seriously when I get paid for them. So until next week... 

Keep writing, my friends.

More About Bryan C. Laesch:

Amazon: My Author Page
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Flash Stories & Poetry Day 50: Sonnet "A Christmas Sonnet"

 

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I know, I know. I'm writing this on the 26th. But, technically, today is the second day of Christmas. Christmas goes all the way until the 6th, known as the Epiphany or Three Kings' Day, so my wishes to you are not in vain.

Anyway, "today's" writing exercise is supposed to be a sonnet, and I was planning on doing a special Christmas sonnet. I tried working on it multiple times last evening and it hasn't come along very well yet. Maybe I'll write it now and share it tomorrow as I am so tired, I am dragging ass. But first, I wanted to mention some things. Because I'm still anxious about finding a job and there are other things I wanted to finish before the end of next week, I think this or the next poem I'm going to write will the last poem(s) of the year. I need to find a job and I need to distract my mind. And since I haven't been keeping good track of this little project, now would be the time for a break. I'm sorry to disappoint you. But maybe if this project goes rare for a while, I'll make a case for myself as to why people should support me on Patreon, not to mention, I'd like to turn out higher quality poems, short stories, and creative non-fiction posts. But if I have a major windfall, I will try to keep this up for as long as I possibly can.

Anyway, today's style is sonnet.

This day is the feast of Christ's advent,
The day of sinners' reclamation;
On this morn, let hatred and sin be rent
In the Name of our needed redemption.

At His Mass, His spirit we shall spread,
Every knee shall bend before the King;
He came to call everyone, living and dead,
Unto Him, every bell shall toll and ring.

Let us go forth and bear glad tidings,
And may the world come to Him and rejoice;
His message to our souls shall be guiding,
Blessings mighty to them who hear His voice.

Now, let us go forth and spread His cheer,
With family, dinner, gifts, and drinking beer.

***

 

I have no idea how long that actually took, but it must've been around a half hour. Anyway, I didn't mean to make the poem so religious at first. It was originally going to be about all the traditions and activities we do at Christmas and the twist at the end was going to be about how we can't do that anymore because of how snowed in we are. We got a buttload of snow here in Michigan. A true white Christmas.

But then, I was listening to all the really religious Christmas carols and it became one giant poem of worship with a slight sarcastic twist ending. I'm not attacking the commercialism or the other nonreligious things we do at Christmas, I just needed a twist because that's what sonnets are about in the last two lines. But besides that, this poem is alright. It did suck, but I changed some of the lines, and the timing is better.

 

But anyway, that's it for today. If you want to use the wheel I made, you should be able to access it here. And if you have the time, please check out my books for sale on Amazon which you can find through my author page. The link is below. Also, I reworked my Patreon page, so why not give it a look and consider becoming my patron. I would appreciate it.

Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Fröhliche Weihnachten, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia, and Mele Kalikimaka.

More About Bryan C. Laesch:

My Works:

Amazon: My Author Page, My Influencer Page
Facebook: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar
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Twitter: BryanofallTrade
Youtube: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar

Flash Stories & Poetry Day 47: Prayer "A Christmas Prayer"

 

 

Hey, everyone.

So, as I've mentioned before, I prepare these in advance, especially this week and especially for this one. I had wanted to do a Christmas prayer, but only if it turned up in the spinning of the wheel, and it did, so... Today's style is... Prayer. But more than that though, it's a Christmas prayer. Not just simply for the sake of the season, but because there was a Christmas prayer I read not that long ago that I quite liked. I came across it from either Beliefnet or someone else I'm subscribed to. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it since, but I do remember being blown away by how surprisingly good it was. All the rest are sort of chintzy or mundane or predictable like. So, here's my version of a Christmas prayer. Just know, it was inspired by key lines from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. And when I say "inspired," I mean I stole them and remade them for my purposes.

Almighty God,

As the season of Thy Son falls upon us,
let us remember the spirit and purpose
of this feast:

Let us not fetter ourselves in chains,
girded by our own free will
remaining captive, bound, and double-
ironed by evanescent pursuits.

Let us not misuse our life's opportunity,
but find the vast means of our
usefulness as Christian spirits
working at Thy business of charity,
mercy, forbearance, and benevolence.

And by Thy strength and grace,
may we be better than our word
doing it all and infinitely more,
able to keep Christmas well
the whole year round. May we
be as good a people as the world
could ever know.

Amen.

***

 

Well, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good. I don't want to use the word "people" because it seems to too generic and not purpose-built enough, but most other words that I could find that might have worked, church, parish, nation, kingdom, halidom, they all seemed too specific or didn't fit the rhythm of the prayer right. Not to mention, with the mention of "Christian spirits" earlier in the prayer, it doesn't feel like "people" needs to be anymore specific than it is because "Christian spirits" pretty much answers what sort of people we should be.

 

But anyway, that's it for today. If you have the time, please check out my books for sale on Amazon which you can find through my author page. The link is below. Also, I reworked my Patreon page, so why not give it a look and consider becoming my patron. For little as a buck from everyone who reads this, I can keep writing without needing a "real job."

Keep writing, my friends.

More About Bryan C. Laesch:

My Works:

Amazon: My Author Page, My Influencer Page
Facebook: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar
Patreon: Bryan C. Laesch
Twitter: BryanofallTrade
Youtube: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar

Flash Stories & Poetry Day 30: Reflection "The True Meaning of Christmas"

 

Hey, everyone.

Well, today's a non-fiction day, so let's see what the wheel of genres has cracking for me today.

Wheel of Genres, turn, turn, turn! Tell me the genre I will discern!




Today's topic is... Reflection! Now, that's interesting.

For the past half a week, I've had many things go through my head, but they were all very religious. This doesn't mean that I'm not going to write about them, I'm just not going to write about them here in Flash Stories & Poetry. I do intend on getting more religious with some of my posts on my blog, but not through this channel. However, having said that, there is a religious/secular reflection I can do today, something that I've thought about a bit since December started: The True Meaning of Christmas.

Thirty minutes on the clock: 30:00. And... go!

This is something we hear about every year at this time: the true meaning of Christmas. We are often told that Christ is the reason for the season, but what does that really mean? Is it just coincidence, careful Church planning to cover up an old pagan holiday, or does it go much deeper than that?

Once upon a time, two Baptists came to my house, advocating the opening of their new church which is funny because they said their message wasn't about churches, but a relationship with Christ. When my sister let the cat out of the bag that we were Catholic, the one, old guy who had been silent up until that point asked her if she understood the meaning of John 3:16. For those who don't know, John 3:16 is "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."

Now, this question confused the dickens out of me and still does. At the time, I hadn't committed John 3:16 to memory, but I was definitely familiar with the passage. But what this question has to do with us being Catholic versus what those two old, Baptist farts were getting at, I have no idea. One of the things Catholics are often criticized for is not knowing their religion, but even if my sister and I didn't understand our faith, I don't understand how John 3:16 would have offered us any guidance.

But is John 3:16 relevant to the true meaning of Christmas? Well, perhaps; God gave us his Son so that we could all be saved, that is to say, live forever rather than die forever. Does this mean then that the true meaning of Christmas is a giving of one's self to the totality of another out of love? Perhaps, although I would argue that that would be the meaning of Easter, but Easter really is more of the celebration of God's consummate victory over evil and the opening of Heaven for us. (But is that so different from Christmas? Perhaps they both carry the same meaning.) So, perhaps the true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of such a deep and divine love that it translates into everyone's personal salvation, meaning that we are to give of ourselves so deeply that we would also send ourselves through Hell for the rest of world?

Maybe. One of the problems here is the temptation to overthink and overcomplicate the issue. Perhaps it is more of a reminder that we shouldn't get caught up in the commercialism side of the holiday, and remember that the tradition of giving and receiving gifts isn't what it's all about, but rather the gifting of ourselves to each other. The gifts are only there to be symbols of our love for one another. I tell you, as one who doesn't have a lot of money this year and is worried about having enough money for gifts for those on my list, this sort of reflection does bring me some solace in that it reminds me not to focus on how much I spend for those I care about, but rather the thought I put into what I get them.

Hmm, unfortunately, I'm not sure what else I can say about this as I worry that if I analyze it any further, I'm going to either be beating a dead horse or end up losing the plot. So, rather than do that, perhaps it is enough that my mind knows what the true meaning of Christmas is, and for now I must let my heart and spirit process and internalize it so that I may carry the spirit of the season all throughout the year.

***
 

Okay, that only took about twenty minutes. I apologize for writing so short a piece, but I got reflection and this is one of those things that was on my mind. To some extent, I'm worried that this is so "Duh!" worthy, not many people will get any use out of it. I don't want to write about things that people already know about, but perhaps some people need the reminder.

 

But anyway, that's it for today. If you want to use the wheel I made, you should be able to access it here. And if you have the time, please check out my books for sale on Amazon which you can find through my author page. The link is below. Also, I reworked my Patreon page, so why not give it a look and consider becoming my patron. I would appreciate it.

Keep writing, my friends.

More About Bryan C. Laesch:

My Works:

Amazon: My Author Page, My Influencer Page
Facebook: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar
Patreon: Bryan C. Laesch
Twitter: BryanofallTrade
Youtube: Bryan C. Laesch, Bawdy Scholar