spiritual warm-ups

A prayer from The Valley of Vision:

The Personal Touch

Thou Great I AM,
I acknowledge and confess that all things
come of thee-
life, breath, happiness, advancement,
sight, touch, hearing,
goodness, truth, beauty-
all that makes existence amiable.
In the spiritual world also I am dependent
entirely upon thee.
Give me grace to know more of my need of grace;
Show me my sinfulness that I may willingly
confess it;
Reveal to me my weakness that I may know
my strength in thee.
I thank thee for any sign of penitence;
give me more of it;
My sins are black and deep,
and rise from a stony, proud,
self-righteous heart;
Help me to confess them with mourning, regret,
self-loathing,
with no pretence to merit or excuse;
I need healing,
Good Physician, here is scope for thee,
come and manifest thy power;
I need faith;
Thou who hast given it me, maintain, strengthen,
increase it,
Center it upon the Savior's work,
upon the majesty of the Father,
upon the operations of the Spirit;
Work it in me now that I may never doubt thee
as the truthful, mighty, faithful God.
Then I can bring my heart to thee
full of love, gratitude, hope, joy.
May I lay at thy feet these fruits grown
in thy garden,
love thee with a passion that can never cool,
believe in thee with confidence that never
staggers,
hope in thee with an expectation that can never
be dim,
delight in thee with a rejoicing that cannot
be stifled,
glorify thee with the highest of my powers,
burning, blazing, glowing, radiating, as from
thy own glory.

I would credit its author, but the book only lists the fourteen Puritan men from whose works these prayers were selected. Knowing the Puritan predilection toward meekness and humility, we can assume the authors would heartily approve of the anonymity.
The line, "Good Physician, here is scope for thee" makes me chuckle. It leads me to wonder: did the author intend this ironic understatement as true, but also a bit of a joke? I'd like to think so. No one that prays such rich, heavenly-focused prayers could be a total sourpuss. Sure, I see that he wants to confess his sin with "self-loathing", but he doesn't wallow there. Penitence serves as the gateway to love, gratitude, hope, and joy.
Careful contemplation of these prayers has brought order and clarity to my own God-ward pleas. Jumping daily from such springboards has been a great exercise for the new year!