Prayer of Confession

For feeling Gratitude

Dear Lord,

We confess that we are not a grateful people. We worry, we envy, we feel entitled to services, things, and circumstances. Sometimes we are facing suffering that we cannot begin to understand, and it consumes us, leaving no room to recognize the small graces present in our lives. Sometimes the beauty of those small graces gets eaten up by our short attention span.

Grant us the strength to face those things we must face to practice true gratefulness. When we worry, remind us of your greatness. When we suffer, sit with us in that. When we envy and feel entitled to so much more than we can have at this present moment, show us what we have already, and make us more generous toward others to ward off future feelings of envy and entitlement.

We confess that we want all the benefits of a grateful, thankful life without any of the work. We don’t want to change the things about us that make gratefulness elusive. The work is hard and we already feel so raw. Be with us in our brokenness, and remind us we are loved.

Thank you, God, for hearing our confessions, and for your patience as you waited for us to finally make them. Thank you for your love, that will not let us go. Thank you for times in our lives when we can try to do, be, and learn better. Prepare our hearts with a fresh coat of thankfulness, so that we may be open to the coming joy.

Amen.