From my forthcoming book Praying without Pretence: Honest Prayers for Honest People, coming out this summer, a prayer for when we’ve been grumpy and have behaved unfairly towards others as a result.
Forgive me, Lord,
for I’ve been horrible today –
mean,
bad-tempered
and spiteful.
I moaned when I had no reason to,
complained when there was nothing to complain about.
I’ve been impatient,
critical,
thoughtless,
aloof.
And why?
Because I was feeling grumpy, that’s all.
It’s not good enough, I know –
not in any way a justification of my behaviour,
but though I can see that now,
I couldn’t then.
The mood came over me –
maybe I simply got out of bed the wrong side this morning –
and, try as I might, I just couldn’t shake it off.
Nothing was good enough for me
and everyone seemed to rub me up the wrong way,
though, in truth, it was me at fault,
not them.
Forgive me, Lord
and help those I’ve been short with,
those I’ve dealt with so unfairly,
to forgive me too.
May they understand what caused me to speak and act as I did,
shallow though it was,
and make allowances,
little though I deserve it.
Amen.