Word of Encouragement (09/12/2022)

Here is another morning prayer of John Baillie’s to start the week:

“CREATOR SPIRIT, who forever hovers over the lands and waters of earth, enriching them with forms and colors that no human skill can copy, give me today the mind and heart to rejoice in your creation.

Forbid that I should walk through your beautiful world with unseeing eyes;

Forbid that the attractions of the city and its shops should ever steal my heart away from the love of open fields and green trees;

Forbid that under the low ceilings of office or classroom or workshop or study I should ever forget your great overarching sky;

Forbid that when all your creatures greet the morning with songs and shouts of joy, I alone should wear a grumpy and solemn face;

Let the energy and vigor which in your wisdom you have infused into every living thing stir within my being today, so that I may not be a lazy or mindless bystander among your creatures;

And above all give me grace to use these beauties of earth around me and this eager stirring of life within me to lift my soul from creature to Creator, and from nature to nature's God.

“O Lord, your divine tenderness always outsoars the narrow loves and kindness of earth. Grant me today a kind and gentle heart toward all things that live. Help me to take a stand against cruelty to any creatures of yours. Help me to be actively concerned for the welfare of little children, and those who are sick, and of the poor, remembering that what I do for the least of these brothers and sisters of his, I do for Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.”

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