O God, our Father, 

we know that the issues of life and death are in your hands, 

    and we know that you are loving us with an everlasting love.  

If it is your will, grant to us to live in happiness and in peace.

 

In all our undertakings,

    Grant us prosperity and good success.

In all our friendships,

    Grant us to find our friends faithful and true.

In all our bodily things,

    Make us fit and healthy,

        Able for the work of the day.

In all the things of the mind,

    Make us calm and serene,

        Free from anxiety and worry.

In material things,

    Save us from poverty and from want.

In spiritual things,

    Save us from doubt and from distrust.

Grant us 

    In our work satisfaction;

    In our study true wisdom;

    In our pleasure gladness;

    In our love loyalty.

 

And if misfortune does come to us, 

    grant that any trial may only bring us closer to one another and closer to you; 

    and grant that nothing may shake our certainty that you work all things together for good,

    and that a Father’s hand will never cause his child a needless tear. 

Hear this our prayer, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

William Barclay, 1907-1978, minister in the Church of Scotland

 

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Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.