Creator Spirit, who broodest everlastingly over the lands and waters of earth, enduing them with forms and colors which no human skill can copy, give me today, I beseech thee, the mind and heart to rejoice in thy creation.
Forbid that I should walk through thy beautiful world with unseeing eyes;
Forbid that the lure of the market should ever entirely steal my heart away from the love of the open acres and green trees;
Forbid that under the low roof of workshop or office or study I should ever forget thy great overarching sky;
Forbid that when all the creatures are greeting the morning with songs and shouts of joy, I alone should wear a dull and sullen face;
Let the energy and vigor which in my wisdom thou hast infused into every living thing stir today within my being, that I may not be among thy creatures as a sluggard and a drone;
And above all give me grace to use these beauties of Earth without me and this stirring of life within me as a means whereby my soul may rise from creature to Creator, and from nature to nature’s God.
O thou whose divine tenderness doth ever outsoar the narrow loves and charities of Earth, grant me today a kind and gentle heart towards all things that live. Let me not ruthlessly hurt any creature of thine. Let me take thought also for the welfare of little children, and of those who are sick, and of the poor; remembering that what I do unto the least of these His brethren I do unto Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
(A Diary of Private Prayer, John Baillie – Thirtieth day, morning)