Give Your Blessing to Our Daily Work

O Lord,
give your blessing to our daily work,
that we may do it in faith, with all our hearts,
as working for the Lord and not for human masters.
All our powers of body and mind are yours,
and we devote them to your service.
Sanctify us and the work in which we are engaged;
let us not be lazy, but diligent in spirit.
O Lord, bless our efforts
that they may bring forth in us
the fruits of true wisdom.
Teach us to seek truth and lead us to find it,
but grant that we may always speak the truth in love,
that while we know earthly things,
we may know you, and be known by you,
through and in your Son Jesus Christ.
Give us this day your Holy Spirit,
that we may be yours in body and spirit
in all our work and all our refreshments;
through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Thomas Arnold, d. 1842

Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers Ancient and Modern by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 86

“with all our hearts… not for human masters” is a reference to Colossians 3:23

“let us not be lazy” is a reference to Romans 12:11

“the fruits of true wisdom” may be a reference to James 3:17

“always speak the truth in love” is a reference to Ephesians 4:15

“we may know you, and be known by you” is a reference to Galatians 4:9

“that we may be yours in body and spirit” may be a reference to 1 Thessalonians 5:23