God has given me many blessings, which I try to remember in gratitude each day, usually in the morning but if I get distracted then sometime later in the day.  The gratitude prayer itself is a blessing that always improves  my mood and circumstances.  I believe that Grace, or the Holy Spirit, visits me when I pray in gratitude for my many blessings.

By the way, sometimes I refer to God as He, or sometimes She, or even as the Universe.  It depends on my theological construct at that moment.  But since we are each made in God’s image, it is hard to argue that God can only be male.  If my stance offends you, please ignore it and go straight on to the blessings themselves.

The gratitude prayer I do everyday.  The request prayer I do almost everyday. Momentary prayers I lift up as the occasion seems to demand it.

Gratitude Prayer

  • Thank you for this day.
  • Thank you for my life.
  • Thank you for the lives of my sons and their girlfriends; bless and protect them.
  • Thank you for the lives of the rest of my family; bless and protect them.
  • Thank you for each of my friends; bless and protect them.
  • Thank you for my church; bless and protect the pastors and the congregation.
  • Thank you for everyone; bless and protect them.
  • Thank you for my home, its safety and beauty and comfort.
  • Thank you for abundant water and for hot water that gives me my only relief from pain.
  • Thank you for the clean air here where I live.
  • Thank you for my safe and pleasant neighborhood.  Please grant these blessings of home, water, hot water, clean air and a safe neighborhood to everyone.
  • Thank you for the companionship of my cats; bless and protect them.
  • Thank you for your magnificent creation of the universe and especially the Earth on which I live.  Please help me and other people become better stewards of it.
  • Thank you for all the plants and animals and oceans, rivers, lakes, sky; bless and protect them.
  • Thank you for miracles, great and small.
  • Thank you above all, God, for your abundant love and never-ending mercy and especially the truly awesome gift of the human life and death and resurrection of your son Jesus Christ for my soul’s eternal salvation.  In Jesus’ name I pray.

Prayer of Requests

  • Please send me the Holy Spirit and the gift of Grace to guide me throughout this day.
  • I lift up to you the following concerns: [Here I address concerns of various people who have requested prayer or who I have told, aloud or silently, that I would pray for them.  I also occasionally lift up my own concerns regarding my health and finances; however, I try not to do that too often as I believe that it is counter-productive.]

Momentary Prayers

  • I do ask God for assistance throughout the day with such things as heavy traffic, avoiding falling, etc.
  • I also lift up momentary prayers of thanks for such things as food to eat.

So, this is how I pray.  I don’t set these prayers down here as some great example of how you should pray. Maybe your own prayers are similar in some ways or maybe they are very different.  I’d really like to hear from you as to how you pray or what blessings we all have that I have omitted in my daily prayer of thanks.  I think I need to add something regarding relationships, but I haven’t formulated that yet, either in my heart or in my words .What else have I left out?  One of the members of the weekly Bible study I attend says that she has added a new focus in her prayers:  she listens for God’s response.  I’m going to try to do that, too.  Do you? I hope you will comment below!