Morning Prayer

Rising in darkness,
let us all keep watching
let psalms provide our source of meditation
And sing with all our strength
hymns of adoration
to our Creator bring.

O LORD, you are my portion and my cup;
it is you who uphold my lot.
My boundaries enclose a pleasant land;
indeed, I have a goodly heritage.
I will bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
my heart teaches me, night after night.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.
My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices;
my body also shall rest in hope.

Dearest Lord, you are the source of every good gift. You created this world and called it good. God -- it is so easy for me to reflect on the things that are not good -- things that go wrong. It is easy for me to become frustrated and anxious. Lord, I give you my anxiety and ask that you ease my frustrations. Help me rest in my blessings and be at peace. Help me to be content with the pleasant land and the goodly heritage you have given me.

Lord, give me a heart for those who do without. Use me to your ends, God and help me to become a blessing for them. I pray for those who suffer illness, who cannot do for themselves. I pray for the parents of children who do not flourish. Comfort them. I pray for those whose employment is uncertain. Sustain them. I pray for those whose hearts have no ease. Soothe them with your presence. I pray for those who are homeless. Grant them the security they so desperately need. I pray for those who have lost loved ones in a storm's fury. Ease their pain and grant them peace.

God our Father, you see my children -- our children -- growing up in an unsteady and confusing world, full of things that can harm them yet tempt them. Show my children that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, show them the path that will preserve them. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation. Watch over my children as they are away from me today and bring them safely home, just as you will bring us all safely home to you. I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.