Morning Prayer of Gratitude

God, I woke up this morning. That alone is a gift I almost forgot to notice. You kept me through the night. You gave me breath again. You gave me another day to live, another day to love, another day to begin again where I left off yesterday. Thank you for the bed I slept in. For the roof that held. For the body that carried me through yesterday and woke up willing to try again today. For simple things I overlook when life gets loud. Morning light. Warm water. Food on the table. Quiet before the day starts asking for everything. Thank you for the people in my life. The ones who stayed. The ones who checked in. The ones who love me in ordinary ways that are easy to miss if I'm not paying attention. I don't always say thank you enough. To them. To you. Lord, I have a habit of counting what's missing. Of measuring the distance between where I am and where I think I should be. I compare my life to other people and forget to see what's already right in front of me. Forgive me for that. Today I want to notice what's already here. The small things I walk past. The ordinary miracles I've stopped calling miracles. A kind word. A steady breath. A chance to do one good thing for someone else. Help me notice them. Every single one. Not because gratitude is a rule. Because gratitude is a way of being awake to your goodness. A joyful noise. That's what gratitude is, isn't it? Not a performance. Not a script I read because I'm supposed to. But a real response. Messy, honest, joyful. So here's mine today, Lord. Thank you. For everything I can name and everything I can't. For mercy that met me before I asked for it. For grace that goes ahead of me into this day. For mercy that will meet me again tonight no matter how this day unfolds. Let gratitude be the first thing on my lips today and the last thing on my mind tonight. Let it shape how I speak, how I listen, how I move through ordinary moments. Let it soften me where I've gotten hard. Let it slow me where I've gotten rushed. And when I start drifting back into comparison, pull me gently back to thankfulness. Back to presence. Back to you. In the name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.