But give rather. . .

But give rather. . .
So far we have named sins, weaknesses, symptoms of the human condition that we struggle with and we have asked to be delivered from them.  May they not have a hold on us any more. 

And now the hinge moves and we see what God gives.

There is not a way to have both sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk in the same space as the virtues we will now ask for.  We have to clean the dirt off the windows for the sun to shine through. 

But just as we asked for the sickness of sins to be taken from us, we ask for the healing forces of these virtues to be given.  Please give these, God.

We recognize that just like we cannot rid ourselves of sin in our own power, we cannot put on the righteousness ourselves.  We need God to take the bad and give the good.  We need to let go and then receive.

In our pull- yourselves- up- by - the bootstraps society,  this seems so passive.  We want to DO something to make into ourselves better people. But it isn't us doing the changing.  It is God.

It is just our job to get out of the way.