Loving my Neighbor

Heavenly Father,

The entire cosmos is a work of your hand. Every person in it bears your image. Though sin has distorted us, you love us all. Yet I confess that I so often do not love as you do. I do not act when I could show compassion. I do not speak when I could encourage or reprove. Help me to love all of your people with an intensity worthy of your image. May I show grace and truth through both word and deed. Out of my love for and from you, let love flow out of me to my neighbors. When others are hard to love, grant me the self-control and strength to choose to care for them anyway. I long to see your name high and lifted among the nations. The seas roar in song, and hills sing of your greatness. Let the rejoicing of humanity surpass the rest of creation.

In the name of him who became man. Amen.