Five prayers to pray before work

Before the day starts

This is the general one, for an ordinary morning with nothing unusual in it. The psalm behind it asks to hear about God's love in the morning and to be shown the way to walk — which is roughly what a working day needs.

God, before anyone needs anything from me: let me hear that you love me, because I will not have time to work it out later. Show me the way to go today. Give me enough attention for the work in front of me and enough kindness for the people around it. Keep me honest in the small things nobody checks. Amen.

Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

Salmo 143:8, BSB

Before a decision you are not sure about

Pray this one with the actual decision named out loud. Vague prayers about wisdom tend to stay vague.

Father, I have to decide about ______ and I do not know enough. You said wisdom is there for the asking, so I am asking, plainly, and not as a formality. Show me what I am avoiding. Show me who this decision costs, and whether I have been counting that cost honestly. If I have to choose without certainty, give me the nerve to choose and to own it. Amen.

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

James 1:5, BSB

Before a day you are dreading

For the shift you do not want, the room with the difficult person in it, the week that has already been decided against you.

Lord, I do not want to go today. You know exactly why. I am not asking you to make me enthusiastic; I am asking you to get me through it well. Let me do this work as if it were for you, especially the parts nobody will notice. Keep me from becoming someone I would not like by five o'clock. And with ______, give me patience I do not currently have. Amen.

Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men,

Colossians 3:23, BSB

When you are looking for work, or the work is unpaid

Some mornings there is no shift to go to, or the work is real and nobody is counting it. This prayer belongs to those mornings.

God, my hands are not idle, but there is nothing on the other end of them right now. Establish the work I do anyway — the applications, the caring, the housework, the hours that go unrecorded. Keep me from measuring myself by the silence of other people. Open one door this week, and give me something useful to do while I wait for it. Amen.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands— yes, establish the work of our hands!

Salmo 90:17, BSB

When you are worn out and it is only Wednesday

Say this one slowly. It is an invitation to bring the tiredness rather than push through it.

Jesus, you called the tired and the overloaded to come to you, so I am coming, tired and overloaded. Take the part of this that was never mine to carry. Show me the limit I have been ignoring and give me the courage to say it out loud to someone today. Teach me to stop at the end of the day rather than only when I run out. Amen.

One honest note: prayer is not a treatment for burnout, and it is not medical or workplace advice. If you are exhausted past the point of sleeping it off, or the work is unsafe, talk to a doctor, a union or someone qualified to help. Do both — pray and get help.

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28, BSB