September 13, 2009

Here is today's prayer (designed especially for evening prayer, but could be used in the morning as an examen for the prior day):

O God, our Father, we thank Thee for this day which is passing from us now.

For any glimpse of beauty we have seen;
For any echo of Thy truth that we have heard;
For any kindness that we have received;
For any good that we have been enabled to do;
And for any temptation which Thou didst give us grace to overcome;
We thank Thee, O God.

We ask Thy forgiveness for anything which has spoiled and marred this day.
For any word which now we wish that we had never spoken;
For any deed which now we wish that we had never done;
For everything which makes us ashamed when we remember it;
Forgive us, O God.

Eternal God, who givest us the day for work and the night for rest, grant unto us, as we go to rest, a good night's sleep; and wake us refreshed on the morrow, better able to serve Thee and to serve our fellow-men.
This we ask, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

From William Barclay's The Plain Man's Book of Prayers, pages 24-25.