Childhood Prayer

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From childhood, at my mother’s knee, the prayer of stillness lay at the heart of daily prayer:  ‘Be still and know that I AM God.’  ‘Seek ye my Face; Thy Face, Lord will I seek.’

Still, still, very still, hands are folded, very still.  Keep our minds and bodies still, for a moment, deep and still.  Now I am ready for hearing God, now I am ready for listening, now I am ready to talk to him, still, still, very still.  Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.  Into thy loving care, into thy keeping, Thou that art everywhere, take us we pray.  Lord of the loving heart, may mine be loving too.  Lord of the gentle hands, may mine be gentle too.  Lord of the willing feet, may mine be willing too.  So may I grow more like to Thee, in all I say or do.  

Teach me, my God and King, in all things Thee to see, and what I do in anything, to do it as for Thee.  He prayeth best who loveth best, all things both great and small, for the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.  Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do.   Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease.  Take from our souls the strain and stress and let our ordered lives confess, the beauty of Thy peace.

The peace of God which passeth all understanding, kept our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, so that from early childhood, Christ Jesus was our strength and stay.