A Prayer for the Tired

Lord, I come to you at the end of a long day, with little left to offer.

You know the weight I carried and the words I did not say. You know the tasks unfinished, the patience that ran thin, the good I meant to do and left undone. I bring all of it to you now, without dressing it up.

Thank you for the hours that held together. Thank you for the person who was kind, for the meal, for the quiet, for the breath I did not have to earn. These are not small things. I am learning to notice them.

Give me rest tonight that is real rest. Loosen the grip of tomorrow's worries; they will keep until morning, and you will be there when they come. Where I have wronged someone, give me the courage to make it right. Where someone has wronged me, teach me to let it go.

Keep my family and my neighbours through the dark. Watch over those who work while others sleep. And when I wake, let me begin again, unhurried, in your company.

Amen.