A Morning Prayer

A few years ago, I purchased a well-worn copy of John Baillie's classic devotional, A Diary of Private Prayer. It contains a month's worth of morning and evening prayers, plus a few extras for Sundays. The language is old-fashioned, but the warmth and enthusiasm that infuse these prayers keep the words from feeling too clunky. 

In today's Bible reading, Genesis 1-3, we learn about the first morning that ever was. Below, you'll find an excerpt from one of John Baillie's morning prayers that sounds like it was inspired by that same passage:

"O Lord and Maker of all things, from whose creative power the first light came forth, who didst look upon the world's first morning and see that it was good, I praise Thee for this light that now streams through my windows to rouse me to the life of another day.

I praise Thee for the life that stirs within me:

I praise Thee for the bright and beautiful world into which I go:

I praise Thee for earth and sea and sky, for scudding cloud and singing bird:

I praise Thee for the work Thou hast given me to do:

I praise Thee for all that Thou hast given me to fill my leisure hours:

I praise Thee for my friends:

I praise Thee for music and books and good company and all pure pleasures.

O Light that never fades, as the light of day now streams through these windows and floods this room, so let me open to Thee the windows of my heart, that all my life may be filled by the radiance of Thy presence. Let no corner of my being be unilluminated by the light of Thy countenance. Let there be nothing within me to darken the brightness of the day. Let the Spirit of Him whose life was the light of men rule within my heart til eventide. Amen."