A Prayer for Friday, March 20, 2015

Twenty-Seventh Day of Lent

O God,

Forgive me for settling

for less than I can by your grace be and
for less than I can through your Spirit do.

Forgive me

for the things I do that I should not do,
for the things I do not do that I should do,
for the things I should do in moderation that I do to excess, and
for the things I should do to excess that I do in moderation.

Forgive me

for the unexamined assumptions that I perpetuate,
for the inappropriate judgments that I pass,
for the irrational fears that I nurture, and
for the unworthy motives that I tolerate.

Forgive me

for treating people as objects rather than as human beings,
for treating your creation with carelessness rather than with respect,
for approaching other cultures with arrogance rather than with openness, and
for approaching life’s questions with pat answers rather than with humble searching.

Forgive me

for responding to your love with anything less than love,
for giving my devotion to anything less than you,
for living this life with anything less than gratitude, and
for looking to the future with anything less than hope.

Forgive me

for accepting despair over trust,
for accepting apathy over compassion,
for accepting stagnation over progress, and
for accepting ignorance over knowledge.

Forgive me for settling

for less than I can by your grace be and
for less than I can through your Spirit do.

Amen.