Image: George Mendoza
Good morning, good God!
This Labor Day, Lord,
I'm grateful for the world you created
and that I, too, am the work of your hands:
you formed my inmost being,
you knit me in my mother's womb...*
How is it that you took the time,
before time was,
to imagine my being,
to consider for even a moment
that I would exist:
you conceived of me
before I was conceived...
And then from the love of two,
you made, you fashioned me
in your own image and in theirs;
you gave me a soul you'd given no other,
you breathed in me your Spirit,
the breath of your own life...
How great are your works, O Lord,
and how grateful am I
that this life of mine
is truly the work of your hands...
Who am I that you should be mindful of me,
care for me and love me?
Yet you have crowned me with glory and honor:
your love, my crown,
your mercy, my glory,
your grace, my honor...
Without you, Lord, I am nothing;
without you,
I am not...
You created me, Lord,
and now I,
the work of your hands,
offer you
the work of my hands,
knowing that all that I have
was first your gift to me...
Every good thought of mine,
every imagined word,
every work I dream,
every gift I offer
is the work of your Spirit within me -
and yet you are pleased
when I lift up as gift
what was always yours to begin with...
On Labor Day, Lord, I offer my work
and pray you'll accept it,
that you know I'm humbled
that my hands share in your work
and your hands share in mine...
And I pray for those who have no work
and for those whose work's too much to bear:
lift up the jobless, Lord
and lighten the load of the weary...
Good God of Monday mornings
and of every labored day,
I rejoice in the work you began in me
and pray you bring it to fulfillment...
Amen.
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