A Prayer for the Tired Morning

God of the morning, we come to you before we are ready.

Some of us slept badly. Some of us did not sleep at all. The work we left last night is waiting, and the worry we carried to bed has not left us. We do not pretend to be stronger than we are.

Meet us here, in the ordinary light of this day. Give us strength enough for the next task, and then for the one after it. We do not ask to see the whole road. We ask only for the step in front of us.

Steady our hands. Quiet our fear. Where we must speak, give us plain and kind words. Where we must wait, give us patience that does not curdle into bitterness.

Hold the people we love, the ones near us and the ones far off. Hold those we find hard to love. Hold those who are more tired than we are.

We are yours in the long day and the short night. Amen.