Prayer for peaceful sleep

Lord, my mind will not stop. It replays the day, anticipates tomorrow, invents problems that do not yet exist. I come to you not with beautiful words but with weariness.

Calm my thoughts. One by one, I place them in your hands: (name what is keeping you awake). You are greater than each of them. None of them is a surprise to you.

Remind me that you do not sleep. While I rest, you keep caring for everything I cannot control. I do not need to stay awake keeping watch; you keep watch for me.

Relax my body. Loosen my shoulders, slow my breathing, lift the weight off my chest. Make my bed a place of rest, not of struggle.

If sleep is slow to come, let me not grow irritated. Let me use this time to thank you, slowly, for every good thing in this day. And when sleep comes, let it be deep and quiet. In peace I lie down. Amen.