A prayer for today: 4p

Creator of all things seen and unseen, before your eyes all human hearts lie bare and open. Inhibit my desire to hide anything from you that I have done or thought or imagined today. Whatever I think that I must hide from the knowledge of others forever, let me now openly acknowledge in your presence. What no proper shame kept me from committing, let no false shame keep me now from confessing.

O God whose tender mercies are over all your works, humbly and sorrowfully I crave your forgiveness for the sins of this day:

For every weakening and degrading thought which my mind has harbored;
For every word spoken in impulsiveness or passion;
For every failure of self-control;
For every stumbling block I have set in another’s way, whether by deed or example;
For every opportunity lost;
For every blessing thanklessly received;
For loitering feet and a procrastinating will.

Grant that, as the days go by, your Spirit may more and more rule in my heart, giving me victory over these and all other sinful ways.

To your loving guardianship, O Lord, I commend all those who are dear to me. Bless all those among whom I live and work and play, and grant them a satisfying sense of your reality and power. Be with all those who tonight are in any peril or distress. Be in every aching heart, in every stricken home, beside every bed of pain, giving to all the blessing of your peace. Amen.

Paraphrase of A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie ©1949 Charles Scribner's Sons