This morning I thumbed through my journal as it has reached its capacity and I move on to a new one. I found this prayer that I wrote on January 18. I was just about to start writing my thesis. I had just begun praying the hours with Thomas Merton’s prayer book – a practice that is changing the nature of my days. I was entering into a season where every hour counts and where my hustle determines whether I can cross the finish line. How much I needed this centering then and now. Before I enter the final week of thesis writing, this is the truth in which I stake my greatest claim.

In the morning before the sun rises
and before I am fully awake,
I remember You and Your mercies.
I recall the news: that no matter what the day holds,
You are the Lord of my life
the Creator of the ends of the earth
and of my interior world,
the Savior of my drowning soul
the Forgiver of my heart who tries to go its own way.

You desire me to live in Your peace.
You call me to dwell
and let all my action come from
this home base.

No matter what comes today,
I am already content with its ending.
I am already at peace.
I am already choosing to rejoice by nightfall.
For the truth of the world –
– the peace that is ours to claim –
depends not on the outcome of the day
but upon a covenant made a long time ago.
A promise that remains even today.

So this day, I go ahead and give You
my soul
devotion
obedience
commitment
for it is a privilege to do so.
It is the most obvious step to take
when salvation has been tasted,
when I consider all that we claim You to be
and I remember the ways You have
guided my life up until now
when I remember that the morning
brings mercies new to be ours –

a fresh start
a forgiven heart
a call new to discover

I remember that Your peace is our dwelling place.
It is a peace that cannot be earned,
no matter what comes of today,
and it is a peace which today’s challenges
may threaten but can never destroy.

In the morning when I rise, grant me devotion.
In the afternoon as I work, grant me commitment.
In the early evening as I play, grant me rest.
By nightfall, grant me a content heart.

All glory to You, the Giver of Days whose endings are already secure.