Heavenly Father,
God of my life, I welcome this new day.
It is your gift to me;
a new creation, and a promise of resurrection.

I thank you for the grace of being alive this morning.
I thank you for the sleep that has refreshed me.
I thank you for this chance to make a new beginning.

This day, Father, is full of promise and opportunity;
let me waste none of it.
This day is full of mystery and the unknown;
help me to face it without fear and anxiety.
This day is blessed with beauty and adventure;
make me fully alive to it all.

During this day Father,
keep me thoughtful, prayerful and kind.
May I be courteous and helpful to others
and not turned in on myself.
Keep me from any word or deed
that would hurt or destroy or belittle.
And may the thoughts of my mind be pleasing in your sight.

When night comes again,
may I look back on this day with no grief or bitterness in my heart.
And may no one be unhappy because of anything I have done or failed to do.
Father, bless this day for me and for everyone.
Make it a day in which we grow to have the mind and heart
of Christ Jesus your Son.

~

Lord Jesus,
teach me to be sweet and gentle in all the events of my life;
in disappointments,
in the thoughtlessness of others,
in the insincerity of those I trusted,
in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.

Let me put myself aside
to think of the unhappiness of others,
to hide my little pains and heartaches,
so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.

Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path.
Let me so use it that it may mellow me,
not harden or embitter me,
that it may make me patient, not irritable,
that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not haughty and overbearing.

May no one be less good for having come within my influence;
no one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble
for having been a fellow traveler in our journey toward Eternal Life.

As I go about my rounds from one distraction to another,
let me whisper from time to time, a word of love to you.
May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good,
and strong in its purpose of sanctity.

May I know you more clearly,
love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly day by day.
Amen.

authors unknown