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Getting it Together
March 9, 2003
Spiritual Practices for Faith, Family and Work
The Foundation of Your Life
IDENTIFYING CORE COMMITMENTS
WHAT VALUES AND
COMMITMENTS DO YOU PROFESS?
What is most important to you?
What values do you want to pass on to your children,
Grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and others?
How do you want to be perceived?
How do you want to be remembered?
How central a role does your faith play in your answers to these questions?
HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY LIVE, DAY IN AND DAY
OUT? AND WHAT DO THESE CHOICES SAY ABOUT WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO VALUE?
How do you spend your time during most weeks
Look at your calendar. What areas of your life garner the most hours?
What happens to the hours that are yours to use as you wish?
How do you spend your money?
Get out your checkbook. Which bills get paid first?
What commands the majority of your expendable money?
How do you use the gifts you have been given?
In what ways are you gifted? How do you use those gifts?
How do you use them to benefit your family, community, church?
With whom do you spend time?
Who are the people you spend time with at home, at work, at church, in the community?
In what ways do you value these people?
What do your interactions tell you about the values you hold?
How do you make decisions?
Consider decisions – minor and major ones – you have made within the last few
months.
What values and commitments do they express?
HOW DO THE VALUES YOU PROFESS AND THOSE BY
WHICH YOU ACTUALLY LIVE COMPARE?
Are there inconsistencies that
disturb you? In what areas of your life are your choices and actions not reflecting the
beliefs and values you profess? What values do you want to live by? What changes need to
be made?
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE:
Practicing the Presence of God
Practicing an awareness of God’s presence with you throughout your
day can sometimes help you to remember to base your choices and actions upon your faith
and the values you truly desire to live by. When what you profess and how you live come
more into line with one another, you can begin to regain a sense of balance in your life.
Practicing the Presence of God
FRAMING YOUR DAY WITH PRAYER
When you begin your day:
give thanks for a night of rest
give thanks for fresh new day
ask God’s help through day
commit your day to God
When you begin your daily work:
pause before you begin work
thank God for your work, your gifts
ask God to help you walk faithfully through the day
When you begin each meal:
pause and give thanks to God (silently or aloud) before any meal
say grace at family meals
When you end your daily work:
give thanks for the day, the work you accomplished, the opportunities you had
ask God to help you leave your work at work
prepare yourself to be present to your family and other commitments after work
When you end your day:
give thanks for the good things of the day
ask forgiveness
lift up concerns, turn them over to God
ask God for peaceful night’s sleep
give yourself into God’s care
ANYTIME PRAYERS:
Anytime you become aware of
God’s presence,
God’s blessings,
God’s gifts
acknowledge it and offer a word of thanks & praise.
Anytime you have to do something difficult
ask to experience God’s presence
ask for God’s help,
offer it to God.
See bellow for sample prayers for the beginning
and ending of the day
for the beginning and ending of the work day,
and for mealtime.
PRAYERS FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE DAY
O you most holy and ever-loving God, we thank you
once more for the quiet rest of the night that has gone by, for the new promise that has
come with this fresh morning, and for the hope of this day. While we have slept, the world
in which we live has swept on, and we have rested under the shadow of your love. May we
trust you this day for all the needs of the body, the soul, the spirit. Give us this day
our daily bread. Amen.
Robert Collyer
In this morning hour
I want a fresh chance to start again.
I don’t want to waste the minutes and hours
that have been given to me.
I want to be alive
to every experience,
in conversation,
in the mundane tasks of this day.
In moments of relaxation
I want to find joy in living.
Lord of the morning, help me.
~Frank Topping
Lord, help me to remember that
nothing is going to
happen today that you and I can’t handle together.
~Saidie Patterson
I accept this new day as your gift,
and I enter it now with eagerness;
I open my senses to perceive you;
I lend my energies to
things of goodness and joy.
~Rita Snowden
O God, our Father, who ever
makest the light to shine out of the darkness, we thank thee for waking us to see the
light of this new day. Grant unto us to waste none of its hours; to soil none of its
moments; to neglect none of its opportunities; to fail in none of its duties. And bring us
to the evening time undefeated by any temptation, and at peace with ourselves, at peace
with others, and at peace with thee. This we ask for thy love’s sake. Amen.
~William Barclay
PRAYERS AT THE BEGINNING OF DAILY WORK
Lord, we offer you ourselves this day
for the work you want accomplished,
for the people you want us to meet,
for the word you want to be uttered,
for the silence you want to be kept,
for the places you want us to enter,
for the new ways you want pioneered.
Go with us along the way, Lord,
and enable us to realize your presence
at all times and in all places,
our loving Lord Jesus Christ.
~Morris Maddocks
All through this day, O Lord,
by the power of thy quickening Spirit,
let me touch the lives of others for good,
whether through
the word I speak,
the prayer I speak
or the life I live.
~Author unknown
O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to
rely upon your holy will. In every hour of the day reveal your will to me. Bless my
dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the
day with peace of soul and with firm conviction that your will governs all. In all my
deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events let me not forget
that all are sent by you. Teach me to act firmly and wisely without embittering or
embarrassing others. Give me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that
it shall bring. Direct my will, teach me to pray. Prayer yourself in me.
~Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow
May my work be faithful;
May my work be honest;
May my work be blessed;
May my work bless others;
May my work bless you.
May the wealth and work of the world be available to all and for the exploitation of none.
May managers, employees, and shareholders work together like fingers on a hand.
~Celtic Daily Prayer
MEALTIME PRAYERS
For food in a world where many walk in
hunger;
For faith in a world where many walk in fear;
For friends in a world where many walk alone,
We give you humble thanks, O Lord.
~Girl guide world hunger grace
God bless our food.
God bless our drink
and keep our home and ourselves
in your embrace. O God. Amen
To God who gives our daily bread
a thankful song we raise,
and pray that he who sends us food
may fill our hearts with praise.
~Thomas Tallis
In a world where many are
lonely:
we thank you for our friendships.
In a world where many are captive;
we thank you for our freedom.
In a world where many are hungry;
we thank you for our provision.
We pray that you will
enlarge our sympathy,
deepen our compassion,
and give us grateful hearts
in Christ’s name. Amen.
Creator of the universe, you give us this gift of food to nourish us and give
us life. Bless this food that you have made and human hands have prepared. May it satisfy
our hunger, and in sharing it together may we come closer to one another.
PRAYERS AT THE END OF THE WORK DAY
God of the
fray, God of the bumps, cool me down, because I am frayed.
Lift me up, because I have come down with a bump.
Help me to accept the duties that confront me.
Help me to assimilate the experiences that have enriched me,
and to become aware of your presence now in the present moment.
~Celtic Blessings
O God, I am preparing to leave my work and return to my home and family. I thank
you for this day, its opportunities, its blessings, its accomplishments. Now, as my
workday comes to an end, help me to lay aside the burdens of the day, knowing that without
times of rest I cannot give myself fully to my labors. Lord, you know as well as I that
when I get home there will be tasks to perform, there will be people and commitments that
will require my time, there will be family members who will desire my attention and my
love. Help me to be present to all that awaits me. Help me to remember that you will be
with me.
Bless our home, O God,
that we cherish the bread before there is none,
discover each other before we leave,
and enjoy each other for what we are,
while we have time.
-Prayer from Hawaii
Strong, sheltering God, we bless you for
all the beautiful things of home: warmth and shelter when the wind outside is bitter, food
for the body and for the soul, treasured gifts and treasured memories, stability,
acceptance, care. We bless you for the chance to be ourselves, for the tasks that weave
the pattern of our days, for the sweet, familiar round of ordinary things. Help us never
to force unfair expectations on others, or take the care of others for granted. Never
allow us to make a safe place a battleground, or to use our belongings to shut others out.
Most gracious Father, this is our home;
let your peace rest upon it.
Let love abide here,
love of one another,
love of life itself,
and love of God.
Let us remember that
as many hands build a house,
so many hearts make a home.
-Hugh Blackburne
PRAYERS FOR THE
ENDING OF THE DAY
Send your peace into my heart, O Lord, that I may be contented with the mercies
of this day and confident of your protection for this night; and having forgiven others,
even as you forgive me, may I go to rest in tranquility and trust; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. ~St Francis of Assisi
Lord of the night, be with me through the hours of darkness, let all my questions,
problems, decisions, be enveloped in sleep that through the mystery of the sleeping mind
the difficulties of this day will be seen to be easier in the morning light. Into your
hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit. ~Frank Topping
The angels of God guard us through the night,
and quieten the powers of darkness.
The Spirit of God be our guide
to lead us to peace and to glory.
~from Prayer at Night
O God, I am glad that I need not pretend during prayer:
I am tired now and my words do not come easily;
I have not kept all my bright promises of the morning;
I have smudged the clear truth of some of my words;
I have been a little short in some of my replies;
I have overlooked others’ needs, absorbed in my own;
I have failed in cheerfulness at times.
You know, O God my Father, what troubles me now, on recollection, as I come to my rest. I
seek your forgiveness. Without your forgiving, sustaining, renewing love, I cannot full
rest. I commit myself to you anew, in the name of Jesus my Master. Amen.
~Rita Snowdon
Glory be to thee, My God, for all the blessings of the past day, for thy
presence ever with me, for the love of family and friends, for every kindness shown me by
others, for the satisfaction of my work and for the knowledge that I am held safe in thy
hand whatever happens. I lift my heart in love and gratitude to thee, dear God, praising
thee that thou hast made me thy child through Jesus Christ. ~George Appleton
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