485 Years and Still Going Strong

After I graduated from college, I took my first teaching job, about 4 hours away from the town where I grew up.  My parents helped me get settled in and then left, and I realized I was truly on my own.  Not like college, where I was surrounded by a gaggle of girls, but alone.  And it was scary.  I was homesick, but also actually afraid of living completely by myself.  I wasn't sleeping well, certain someone was going to break in the second I closed my eyes.  A friend reminded me of the following prayer, one I had memorized years before in grade school:

I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen  (Luther's Evening Prayer)

And after the prayer, Luther's Small Catechism instructed me to "go to sleep, promptly and cheerfully."

You know what?  I did!  I found this prayer so very comforting.  While it still wasn't the easiest for me to live alone, I began sleeping better and having peace at night.  

In the same vein, Luther's Morning Prayer:

I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen

Just as we did before them, our children have memorized both of these prayers at their Lutheran school.  And we have incorporated both into our daily lives - the morning prayer before we all part ways in the morning, and the evening prayer after bible story each bedtime.  

The rhythm of these prayers in our life brings such peace and comfort to me.  Commending myself into His hands, asking for forgiveness, praying to be kept from sin and every evil, and finally that the evil foe may have no power over me.  

Since these times of prayer I'm writing about involve the children, they are not always somber, quiet affairs.  But I pray that our children are comforted and encouraged by these prayers as I was all those years ago, and continue to be today.