Prayer by Samuel Schmiechen

We bless thee, O God, for thy holy laws, thy marvelous power, and thy gracious providence by which our lives are sustained.  We stand in awe before thy ways, known and unknown which dawn with the morning and subside not in the quiet of the night.  Our spirits are hushed, for by the testimony of faith and the discovereis of wise men we can trace thy footprints.  By the whispering of thy Spirit, wooing our better selves, we know that thou art near.  Forgive our dullness of heart when burning bushes beside our path leave us unmoved, when joyful faces of little children do not recall for us the nature of thy kingdom.  Forgive us that our busyness and anxiety rob us of thy quietness and confidence for our souls, that we so often separate physical beauty and wealth from the beauty and riches of the Spirit.  Forgive us that we have not seen the ugliness of sin  nor the grace of the good life, that we have often failed to love one another in the name of him who would weave our lives together with the splendor of a kingdom that fadeth not away.  O thou unwearied God, who dist never fail us; let us not fail thee.  Help us to hold our many blessngs as a shield against temptation; help us to gather the strength of joy for hard tasks.  All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.