As the weekend “A Happy Heart in Gratitude” Women’s Retreat comes to a close today, we offer the following morning prayers that retreat presenter, Paula Jilanis, shared with the guests. May you feel deep gratitude for all of God’s gifts in your life this morning!
Awakening
in a moment of peace
I give thanks
to the source of all peace
as I set forth
into the day
the birds sing
with new voices
and I listen
and give thanks.
~Harriet Kofalk
Waking up this morning, I see the blue sky
I join my hands in thanks for the many wonders of life:
For having twenty-four brand new hours.
The sun is rising on the forest
And so is my awareness.
~Thich Nhat Hanh
I thank You God for most this amazing
Day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
And a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
Which is natural which is infinite which is yes.
~E.E. Cummings
For the freshness of this new day
Thanks be to you, O God.
For morning’s gift of clarity
Its light like the first day’s dawn
Thanks be to you.
In this newborn light
Let us see afresh.
In this gateway onto what has never been before
Let our soul breathe hope
For the earth
For the creatures
For the human family.
Let our soul breathe hope.
~John Philip Newell