A Prayer to Welcome the Night

Last week I posted a prayer to welcome the day. I have used it throughout the week to help center myself for my daily prayer and meditation and also to help focus our MSA team as we met for strategic planning sessions this week.

I have so enjoyed this practice that I decided to write another prayer inviting the presence of God into my night both into times of restful sleep and restless insomnia. Experts on meditation tell me that to be truly effective, to help relax our bodies and our minds we need to do at least 20 minutes of meditation a day, something that is a little overwhelming for many people. However, I find that with the reciting of prayers – slowly, repetitively and meditatively that it is not only possible but refreshing.

The night often magnifies our fears and intensifies our anxieties. Welcoming God into those experiences redirects our focus and often enables us to relax. Making that welcome a deliberate process is, for me at least, very important because it reminds me of the all encompassing presence of God. Small rituals like this can make an amazing difference to our life and to our faith.