Many of us say a common prayer in the evening. Nancy and I taught it to our children. It has been modified over the years but here is the version we use.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Guard me through the starry night,
and wake me with the morning light. Amen. 

So simple, yet calming when we need to be calm. 

These days are anything but calm. Most people I meet are stressed out over many things—with good reason. It is hard to find peace inside or outside. Our emotions and focus get pulled in every direction. It’s good, then, to return to our center every day. Bedtime prayers do that.

So do morning prayers. Martin Luther had a great one. 

“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.”

As Luther reminds us, our center is the Creator God who came to walk the earth in Jesus. We know him as the One who went through death to conquer it so that we might also. We know him as the center of all creation who claimed us as his own in Baptism and now resides at the center of our lives. Without a firm center, one that we reaffirm daily, we get pulled in every direction, our emotions are vulnerable to hijacking, our lives lose focus.

I love the bedtime prayer supposedly said by Pope John Paul II: “Lord, I’ve worked hard all day to serve your church and your world. But you are God and I am not. Now I’m going to sleep. I entrust it all to you. Good night.”  

With a center like that, with reinforcing prayers morning and evening, with judicious exposure to the news, I predict our days will be brighter (I am preaching to myself here as well!).

In stressful times in the Old Testament, when Israel was enslaved in Babylon, God spoke to God’s people with a calming promise. I commend it to each of us as well. Feel free to insert your name and claim God’s promises for yourself. (Isaiah 43: 1-3)

But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, [your name],
    he who formed you, [your name]:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they shall not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire
    you shall not be burned;…
For I am the Lord your God, [your name]
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.