Prayer of the Day

Father, before I ask You for anything, let me thank You.

Thank You for sleep, and for waking from it. Thank You for light at the window, for water, for bread, for coffee going warm in my hands. Small things — but this morning I see them.

Thank You for the people I get to love, even the ones who make it hard. Thank You for work to do and a reason to do it. Thank You for the troubles You've carried me through that I've already forgotten.

Forgive me for how quickly I move past all this, how I treat Your daily gifts like they were owed to me. Give me eyes today that keep noticing.

Let gratitude walk with me out the door — into traffic, into work, into every conversation — so that the people I meet today meet a person who knows they are blessed.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Father, the house is quieting down, and I bring You my family before I sleep.

Thank You for every person under this roof tonight, and for the ones we love sleeping under other roofs — across town, across the world. One family, kept in one set of hands: Yours.

Forgive us for the ways we were impatient with each other today. We are hardest, somehow, on the people we love most. Let no sharp word from today follow any of us into tomorrow.

Watch over each one as they sleep. Give the tired ones deep rest. Give the worried ones peace. Give the little ones good dreams.

Thank You that home isn't the walls — it's the people, and it's You in the middle of us. Keep us close to each other, and closer to You.

Goodnight, Father. We're all in Your keeping now.

In Jesus' name, Amen.