Amazing Graceful God,

I open my eyes and see the beauty of your creation,

  the smile of a spouse or child,

  the wildness of the storm blowing past,

  the bounty of food, clothes, friends, home.

I close my eyes against the ugliness and harshness of the world,

  the hatred and cruelty with which we treat others,

  the despair of those who are attacked or abused,

  the suffering of the poor, the lonely, the troubled.

I close my eyes, and yet I see,and thus am culpable.

Others are more culpable than I, perhaps,

but I am not without blame.

I trust in your forgiving grace

this day and each day to come.

And I pray that better times might come for all.