Forbid, O Lord God, that my thoughts today should be wholly occupied with the worlds passing show. Seeing that in Thy loving kindness Thou hast given me the power to lift my mind to the contemplation of things unseen and eternal, forbid that I should remain content with the things of sense and time. Grant rather that each day may do something so to strengthen my hold upon the unseen world, so to increase my sense of its reality, and so to attach my heart to its holy interest that, as the end of my earthly life draws ever nearer, I may not grow to be a part of these fleeting earthly surroundings, but rather grow more and more conformed to the life of the world to come.
Show me my own smallness and Thine infinite greatness.
Show me my own sin and Thy perfect righteousness.
Show me my own lovelessness and Thine exceeding love.
Yet in Thy mercy show me also how, small as I am, I can take refuge in Thy greatness: how, small as I am, I may lean upon Thy righteousness; and how, loveless as I am, I may hide myself in Thy forgiving love.
Amen.
“A Diary of Private Prayer” by John Baillie
