Daily Devotion 1 2 2015

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for the Morning
Holy God, I pray to be filled with your Holy Spirit for the rest of this day. Let me go forth, walking with your Spirit in my heart, that I may be filled with the joy and energy and praise for your entire creation, thankful in the many gifts you have given me, and showing forth your light in my every word and deed. This I pray in Christ's name,
Amen

Religious Observances

Christian : Commemoration of St Margaret Clitherow, English martyr
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Lucy Filippini, Italian educator
Religious History

1 Roman Church historian Dionysius Exiguus (ca.500_550), in calculating his history of the Christian Church, took this day as the supposed date of the Annunciation. March 25th afterward became the first day of the calendar year, until the Gregorian Calendar Reform of 1753 changed the day to January 1st.
1533 During one of his recorded "Table Talks," German reformer Martin Luther declared: 'That the Creator himself comes to us and becomes our ransom - this is the reason for our rejoicing.'
1634 The Catholic Church gained a foothold in colonial America when the ships "Dove" and "Ark" arrived in Maryland with 128 Catholic colonists, selected by Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore. The colony was under the leadership of Leonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore's brother.
1951 American missionary and martyr Jim Elliot reflected in his journal: 'When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die.'
1953 A group of 22 Southern Baptist military personnel, stationed at Rapid City, met to form the Calvary Baptist Church , the first Southern Baptist congregation established in South Dakota.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for the Troubles of the Earth
God of comfort, these times seem so uncertain, so scary. The world seems darker than it has in the past and I am less sure of myself. Maybe that's a good thing; maybe now I am turning to you with a realization that I need you so much more and that my life is not in my own control.
Let me not forget all of those around the world who are frightened at this moment. Help those who are victims of terrorism and war. Be with those who have lost so much in the past year. Hold us all in your arms and let us be comforted by the strength and peace you make available to us through the birth of your son, Jesus; and thank you for all the many gifts you offer us, during our life on earth and for all eternity.
Amen

Religious Observances

Christian : Commemoration of St Braulio of Aragon
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Ludger, bishop, confessor
Religious History

1830 Joseph Smith, 24, first published "The Book of Mormon." Having derived it from golden plates he had discovered with the aid of the angel Moroni, Smith maintained that the plates were written in "Reformed Egyptian" which he had translated with the aid of "Urim and Thummim" two stones hrough which he had viewed the writings.
1840 Birth of George Smith, famed English Assyriologist. During several expeditions to the site of ancient Nineveh, (1873Â74), Smith unearthed over 3,000 cuneiform tablets, including one which told the story of an ancient deluge, similar to Noah's Flood.
1862 Hymnwriter Joseph H. Gilmore, 27, a professor of Hebrew at Newton Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, penned the words to the enduring hymn, "He Leadeth Me."
1929 The Congregation of the Sacraments within the Catholic Church published a document instructing that a plate of silver or metal gilt be held under the chin of the communicant at the reception of the Holy Communion.
1957 Dr. Basil W. Miller founded the Basil Miller Foundation in Altadena, CA. In 1959 its name was changed to World_Wide Missions.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for Morning
Today is a blessed beautiful day and I praise God for allowing me another day to be on this earth. I ask Lord that you touch those whose hearts have turned cold and no longer care. I pray that they see your way is the greater way. Thank you Lord.
Amen

Religious Observances

old Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St John Damascene, confessor/dr (now 12/4)
Anglican : Feast of Charles H Brent, Bp of Philippines, & of Western New York
Religious History

1536 Swiss Protestants in Strassbourg and Constance signed the First Helvetic Confession. It became the first major document setting forth the common faith of the Swiss Protestant churches.
1840 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'No person can be a child of God without living in secret prayer; and no community of Christians can be in a lively condition without unity in prayer.'
1921 The first Southern Baptist church to be constituted in the state of Arizona was organized in Phoenix formed principally of churchmen who protested the doctrinal views held by leaders of the Northern Baptist Convention.
1946 Members of Baptist congregations in Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks met at Anchorage to form the Alaska Southern Baptist Convention.
1962 In Louisiana, Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel ordered all Roman Catholic schools in the New Orleans diocese to end segregation.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for Family and Friends
Blessed are you, loving Father, for all your gifts to me and those close to me. Blessed are you for giving me family and friends to be with me in times of joy and sorrow, to help me in days of need, and to rejoice with me in moments of celebration.
Father, I praise you for your son Jesus, who knew the happiness of family and friends, and in the love of your Holy Spirit. Blessed are you for ever and ever.
Amen

Religious Observances

old Roman Catholic : Feast of St John Capistran, confessor (now 10/23)
Christian : Palm Sunday of the Passion of Jesus Christ
Religious History

1661 Scottish Parliament passed the Rescissory Act, which repealed the whole of the legislation enacted since 1633. Its effect was to overthrow Presbyterianism and to restore the Anglican episcopacy to Scotland.
1747 Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'Oh, how happy it is, to be drawn by desires of a state of perfect holiness.'
1915 Birth of Kurt Aland, New Testament textual scholar. He co-edited the two most definitive modern critical editions of the Greek Scriptures: the United Bible Society's "Greek New Testament" and Eberhard Nestle's "Novum Testamentum Graece."
1936 Birth of Bill Gaither, contemporary Gospel songwriter and vocal artist. Together with his wife Gloria, he wrote some of the most popular Christian songs of the 1960s-1970s, including "Because He Lives," "The King is Coming," "The Longer I Serve Him" and "Something Beautiful."
1961 English apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in "Letters to American Lady": 'The main purpose of our life is to reach the point at which one's own life as a person is at an end. One must in this sense "die," relinquish one's freedom and independence... "He that loses his life shall find it."'

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for the Morning
Holy Father, who watches over your children by night and by day; my food and my strength; Lord and God, the light and guide of my soul; I thank you for this new day and pray that you will watch over me. May my thoughts, my words and actions reflect the Spirit that dwells within me. And may every minute of my life celebrate the gift of grace, earned by the blood of Christ, in whose name I pray.
Amen

[Suzuki Johnny]

Count Your Blessings
Count your blessings, not your crosses;
Count your gains instead of losses.
Count your joys instead of woes;
Count your friends instead of foes.
Count your smiles instead of tears;
Count your courage, not your fears.
Count full years instead lean;
Count kind deeds instead of mean.
Count your health instead of wealth;
Love your neighbor as yourself.


Thank you

Religious Observances

Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Leonard Murialdo, Italian priest/educator
Christian : Easter Sunday
Religious History

1135 Birth of Moses Maimonides, medieval Jewish scholar. Considered the foremost Talmudist of the Middle Ages, his most important writing was "Guide to the Perplexed" (1190), in which he tried to harmonize Rabbinic Judaism with the increasingly popular Aristotelianism of his day.
1492 The Jews were expelled from Spain by Inquisitor_General Tom's Torquemada (Spanish Inquisition).
1771 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'Suffer all, and conquer all.'
1863 Ownership of Wilberforce University in Ohio was transferred to the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The school had been founded seven years earlier by the Methodist Episcopal Church.
1917 All imperial lands, as well as lands belonging to monasteries, were confiscated by the Russian provisional government.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for the Morning
Dear Lord, thank you for this beautiful day. Look after me and protect me throughout the day. Give me the wisdom to see and experience Your world in all its beauty. Let me experience the wonder of your creation.
Protect my family and those closest to me. Let me share with the world today, learning, growing, and contributing, and make the world a better place for all who know me, and for those who don't.
Amen


Religious Observances

Anglican, Lutheran : Commemoration of John Donne, priest
Christian : Palm Sunday of the Passion of Jesus Christ
Religious History

1787 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'When the witness and the fruit of the Spirit meet together, there can be no stronger proof that we are of God.... Were you to substitute...reason for the witness of the Spirit, you would never be established.'
1816 Death of Francis Asbury, 70, pioneer Methodist bishop. Sent to America in 1771 by John Wesley, he saw the new denomination grow from under 500 members to over 200,000 by the time of his death.
1950 American missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'How the Savior suffered in the sinner's place! What tormented him in time menaces the sinner for eternity.'
1958 English apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in "Letters to an American Lady": 'What most often interrupts my own prayers is not great distractions but tiny ones things one will have to do or avoid in the course of the next hour.'
1976 American Presbyterian apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'You must not lose confidence in God because you lost confidence in your pastor. If our confidence in God had to depend upon our confidence in any human person, we would be on shifting sand.'

[Suzuki Johnny]

Lord, let me begin this day in devout meditations, in joy unspeakable, and in blessing and praising You, who has given me such good hope and everlasting consolation.
Lift up my mind above all these little things below, which are apt to distract my thoughts; and keep it above, until my heart is fully resolved to seek You every day, in the path where Jesus has trod before me.
Amen.

Prayer to be Free of Anger
Lord Christ, you taught us that anger with our brethren is a violation of your law, that it condemns us just as murder condemns us. Let me see clearly that anger is moral filth, as your servant James taught us. And yet, anger arises in my mind. I repent my anger, and ask that I be forgiven for this sin, by my faith in you.
Holy Spirit, be with me now and help me to recognize my anger instead of denying it. Teach me to forgive each and every act that makes me angry. Where I have been directly offended, grant me the spirit of forgiveness; where I have become angry over things I have seen other people do or heard them say, imbue me with such a powerful sense of acceptance that my anger will disappear. Let me remember always, Holy God, that I am not in charge of the world; You are. Give me total faith that you know what you are doing.
I pray not to live with suppressed anger, nor to deceive myself by denying my anger when I have merely suppressed it, but let it be utterly abolished within me. Grant me to live in love and peace, as my Savior did and taught us to do. Let my anger be crucified, I pray in your name, Lord Christ,
Amen.

Benediction
Now all glory to you, mighty God, who is able to keep me from falling away and will bring me with great joy into your glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to you who alone are God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are yours before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time,
Amen


Religious Observances

Christian : Commemoration of St Lasarus, patron of girls
Anglican : Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, priest
Religious History

1693 Colonial clergyman Cotton Mather's first-born son died at the age of four days. Mather suspected witchcraft as the cause, and had previously published "Wonders of the Invisible World," affirming his belief in spectral phenomena.
1925 On Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem, British statesman Lord (Arthur James) Balfour dedicated Hebrew University.
1927 Eurovision was founded in Chicago. Headquartered today in Pasadena, CA, this Protestant overseas missions agency specializes in supporting national churches through evangelistic radio, literature and relief work.
1932 German scholar Gerhard Kittel published the first partial volume of "Theological Dictionary of the New Testament." With WWII and Kittel's death in 1948 intervening, this monumental 10-volume work was not completed until the late 1960s.
1956 Death of William R. Newell, 88, American Congregational pastor and Bible teacher. He is remembered today as author of the hymn, "At Calvary" ("Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride").

[Suzuki Johnny]

For Joy
Oh loving God, who laid the foundations of the earth amid the singing of the morning starts and the joyous shouts of the sons of God: Lift my little life into your gladness. Out of you, as out of an overflowing fountain of love, wells forth eternally a stream of blessing upon every creature you have made. Help me to glorify you by striving to be like you. Make me as pure and good as you are. May I be a partaker of the Divine Nature, so that all that is truly human within me may be deepened, purified, and strengthened. And so may I be a witness for you, a light of the world, reflecting your radiance to all I meet.
Amen

Religious Observances

Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Francis of Paula, hermit/confessor (optional)
Anglican : Commemoration of James Lloyd Breck, priest
Religious History

1524 At age 40, Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli (a former Catholic priest) publicly married the widow Anna (ne Reinhard) Meyer. Their marriage lasted until his death at the Battle of Kappel in 1531.
1877 Birth of American evangelist Mordecai Ham. It was under Ham's preaching in the late 1930s that Billy Graham was led into a living faith.
1894 Death of English philanthropist William D. Longstaff, 72. A friend of Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey, Longstaff left several writings, but is best remembered today for authoring the hymn, "Take Time to Be Holy."
1955 British apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in "Letters to an American Lady": 'Fear is horrid, but there's no reason to be ashamed of it. Our Lord was afraid (dreadfully so) in Gethsemane. I always cling to that as a very comforting fact.'
1978 Episcopal Canon Mary Simpson of New York spoke from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey in London. She was the first ordained woman to preach there in the 913 years since 1065, when the Abbey was first consecrated.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer to do Good
If there be some weaker one,
Give me strength to help him on;
If a blinder soul there be
Let me guide him nearer thee;
Make my mortal dreams come true
With the work I fain would do;
Clothe with life the weak intent,
Let me be the thing I meant;

Let me find in Thy employ,
Peace that dearer is than joy;
Out of self to love be led,
And to Heaven acclimated,
Until all things sweet and good
Seem my natural habitude.
Amen

Religious Observances

Anglican : Commemoration of Richard, Bishop of Chichester
Christian : Easter Sunday
Religious History

1189 The Peace of Strasbourg was signed, resolving the differences between Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany and Pope Clement III.
1528 In Cologne, German reformer Adolf Clarenbach, 28, was arrested for teaching Protestant (some say Anabaptist or Waldensian) doctrines. The following year, Clarenbach was burned at the stake for his faith.
1593 Birth of George Herbert, English clergyman and poet. One of his verses endures today as the hymn, "The King of Love My Shepherd Is."
1759 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'I believe that love to God, and to man for God's sake, is the essence of religion and the fulfilling of the law.'
1950 Death of American hymnwriter Ira B. Wilson, 70. Associated with Lorenz Publishing in Dayton, Ohio for over 40 years, Wilson's most enduring sacred composition was "Make Me a Blessing" (aka "Out of the Highways and Byways of Life").

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for the Morning
Lord, God, who has safely brought me to the beginning of this day; I give you thanks for my creation, preservation, and all the blessings of my life. Grant that this day I fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all my doings, being governed by your will, may be righteous in your sight. Through Christ our Lord, I pray.
Amen.
For Those Who Suffer
God of time and of eternity, in your hands you hold the souls of the righteous, and in your heart there is room for all people; shine forth upon all who are tried in the furnace of suffering and illness, and especially on those for whom I pray today; in your grace and mercy may we know that you watch over us; bring us at the last to abide with you in love; I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer to Use Our Gifts Wisely
Lord, give me each day the wisdom to see which things are important, and which things are not. Show me how best to use the time and talents you have given me. Help me to use all my opportunities wisely, that I may share, through service to others, the good gifts I have received from you.
Amen

Religious Observances

Anglican : Commemoration of St Ambrose
Christian : Feast of St Agathopus & Theodulus
Christian : Feast of St Benedict, the black
Christian : Feast of St Plato & St Tigernach
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Isidore, abp of Seville, confessor/doctor (optional)
Religious History

1507 Future German reformer Martin Luther, at age 21, was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic church.
1541 Spanish ecclesiastic reformer and mystic Ignatius Loyola, 50, was elected the first General of the Jesuit Order, which he had helped establish the previous year.
1687 James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence allowing full liberty of worship in England. The document allowed peaceable meetings of nonconformists and forgave all penalties for ecclesiastical offenses.
1944 German Holocaust victim Anne Frank, 14, wrote in her diary: 'I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift...of expressing all that is in me.'
1965 German theologian Jurgen Moltmann revealed in a letter to Karl Barth: 'Polemics always makes one a little one-sided.'

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer to Use Our Gifts Wisely
Lord, give me each day the wisdom to see which things are important, and which things are not. Show me how best to use the time and talents you have given me. Help me to use all my opportunities wisely, that I may share, through service to others, the good gifts I have received from you.
Amen

Religious Observances

Christian : Feast of St Albert of Montecorvino
Christian : Feast of St DerfelGadarn
Christian : Feast of St Ethelburga of Lyminge
Christian : Feast of St Gerard of Suave-Majeure
Orthodox : Earliest possible Orthodox Easter (3/23 OS)
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Vincent Ferrer, confessor/priest CE (optional)
Christian : Palm Sunday of Passion of Jesus Christ
Religious History

1784 Birth of Louis Spohr, German violin virtuoso and composer. He is best remembered today for composing the hymn tunes GERALD ("I Want a Principle Within") and SPOHR ("All Things Bright and Beautiful").
1802 Pioneer Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'I am often drawn out in thankfulness to God, who hath saved a mother of mine and, I trust, a father also, who are already in glory, where I hope to meet them both."
1811 Death of Robert Raikes, 76, the English philanthropist regarded by many as the founder (in 1780) of the modern Sunday School movement.
1953 In Washington, D.C., President Dwight Eisenhower inaugurated the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. (Its name was later changed to the Annual National Prayer Breakfast.)
1969 Pope Paul VI abolished the galero (red hat) and red shoes and buckles customarily worn by Roman Catholic cardinals.

[Suzuki Johnny]

To Help Everyone I Meet
Holy God, I pray that today the love I show to my fellow man will not be a sham, but fashioned in a sincere heart. May your Holy Spirit be powerful in me, blinding me to annoyances and putting aside selfish greed, so that I may lift up the people I meet, showing them warm affection and leaving them filled with good spirits and confidence. If they are sorrowful, lead me to console them. If they are lost, let me show them the path. Help me always to seek after good rather than evil, and to display, for the whole world to see, the miracle you have worked in my soul.
In the name of Christ, who was always ready to teach and heal and save, I pray,
Amen

Religious Observances

Unification Church : Parents Day
Lutheran : Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artists
Lutheran : Commemoration of Michelangelo, artists
Christian : Holy Saturday
Religious History

6 BC This day is believed by some Biblical scholars to be the actual date of the historical birth of Jesus Christ.
1735 The first Moravians from Europe arrived in America. Invited by colonial governor James Oglethorpe, ten males of the "Unitas Fratrum" landed in Savannah, Georgia after sailing from England in February.
1830 James Augustine Healy, the first black Roman Catholic bishop in America, was born to an Irish planter and a slave on a plantation near Macon, Georgia.
1868 Mormon church leader Brigham Young, 67, married his 27th and last wife. (In all, Brigham Young's wives bore him 47 children.)
1952 American missionary and Auca Indian martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'Faith makes life so even, gives one such confidence, that the words of men are as wind.'

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for Morning
In the morning when I rise, I give praise to God, who shows His glory in the sun. Lord God, you are the source of all warmth, all light, all sustenance. You bring us out of the darkness of ignorance and the blindness of death every day, that we might remember who made us and who sustains us. Your sun is a promise, that the night of death will end and you will rise again, and with you, all who confess the name of your blessed Son, Christ Jesus.
Let me remember you when I rise and all the day, every waking moment; and let me sleep each night in peace, confident that I will rise with your sun once again, in the time you have chosen for me.
Amen



Religious Observances

Lutheran : Commemoration of Mikael Agricola, Bishop of Turku
Christian : Low (Quasimodo) Sunday, the Octave Day of Easter
Religious History

1816 In Philadelphia, church reformer Richard Allen, 56, was elected the first bishop of the newly-created African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. (Previously, in 1799, Allen had been the first black ordained to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church.)
1838 Birth of Edward Kremser, German chorister. Included among his numerous vocal and instrumental works is the enduring hymn tune KREMSER ("We Gather Together").
1933 Death of Henry Van Dyke, 81, an American Presbyterian clergyman and author. He is still remembered for two writings: a book, "The Story of the Other Wise Man" (1896), and a hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" (1908).
1945 U.S. Armed forces liberated the prison camp at Buchenwald, Germany. It was estimated that nearly 57,000 prisoners (mostly Jews) perished in the gas chambers of Buchenwald during its eight-year existence as a Nazi concentration camp.
1970 The Russian Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephalic independence by its Mother organization, the Russian Orthodox Church. Headquartered today in Syosset, New York, membership in this religious body currently numbers approximately one million.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer to Change to Better Serve God
Holy God, I believe that you will change people and many things, if asked and if it is your will. Change me Lord, if it is your will, for I would lead a better life. Touch me, I pray, great God whose touch transforms. Reach out your mighty hand to me, and to all who seek you in the name of your Son. Heal us, transform us, and make us whole; reach out your mighty hand to lift us up to serve you; touch me and all of us this very day, O Lord, that our own hands may bring your hope and healing to this broken world.
Amen

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer of St. Ephraim
O Lord and Master of my life, this day, give me not the spirit of laziness, despair, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of sobriety, humility, patience and love to Thy servant.
O Lord, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages.
Amen

[Suzuki Johnny]

A Lenten Prayer
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen

Religious Observances

Buddhist : New Year (Thailand)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Hermenegild, martyr
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Martin I, pope, martyr (optional)
Buddhist : Songkran Day; honors monks (Thailand)
France 1598, England 1829 : Religious Freedom Day
Religious History

1059 Pope Nicholas II decreed that future popes could be elected by cardinals only.
1598 The Edict of Nantes was promulgated by France's King Henry IV (of Navarre), granting his Huguenot (Protestant) subjects a large measure of religious freedom. (The Edict remained in effect for 87 years.)
1853 Loyola College in Baltimore was chartered under Roman Catholic auspices.
1939 Delegates from independent Baptist churches in Shafter, Oildale, Lamont and Taft organized the first association of Southern Baptists in California.
1948 At the Antioch Baptist Church of Portland, representatives of 15 local congregations organized the Baptist General Convention of Oregon-Washington, the first organization of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer for Good Friday
Christ Jesus, you hung upon a cross and died for me so that I might
live for you; Your body was broken and your blood shed so that I might
be healed and made whole. You were faithful unto death so that I might
be faithful unto life. Your last command was that we might love one
another, one family together from every tribe and nation; a new
creation united through your sacrifice, redeemed by your blood, healed
by your love, united by your covenant of peace. Grant that, in your
death I may find life, and in your suffering I may find peace, today
and forever.
Amen

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer of Thanks
For the gladness here
where the sun is shining at evening on the weeds at the river,
Our prayer of thanks.
For the laughter of children who tumble
barefooted and bareheaded in the summer grass,
Our prayer of thanks.
For the sunset and the stars, the women
and the copper arms that hold us,
Our prayer of thanks.
God, the game is all your way, the secrets and the signals and the system; and so for the break of the game and the first play and the last.
Our prayer of thanks.
Amen

[Suzuki Johnny]

Prayer of Thanks for God's Creation

O Lord God of the nations, you are the only God in heaven above or the earth below. I walk before you with all my heart. I bless your name in the morning when I rise and in the evening when I sleep, and all the day when your creation fills my eye. Bless me to remember you this day. When I see and hear the thousand miracles of your creation, let me see them anew, recalling that you have made them, and no other; that I may live in your presence among the common miracles I take for granted. Through Christ I pray,

Amen.
Thanks to God for Coming to Us

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now may I never more take a breath without a heart filled with your Spirit .

Amen.
Blessing

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace, this day and evermore.

Amen