Liturgy for resting

Lizzie Chitty shares a prayer for our times of rest and recuperation

Dear loving Father,

Thank you for the work you have called me to and equipped me for as a nurse, and I pray that I will do it unto you as your faithful servant. Yet for now, help me to rest.

God, help me to know YOUR rest.

God, help me to know that you are at work even when I am not.

In the comfort of my own bed or over coffee with a friend

In the multiple loads of laundry that have piled up from the last run of shifts

Or the text messages that have gone multiple days unanswered

In the lack of an alarm clock waking me up before 6 am

Or the busyness of a rest day, where I charge around with a checklist longer than my handover sheet.

Lord, lay me down under the shade of the tree and let me hear you rejoice over me with singing.

God, help me to know YOUR rest.

God, help me to know that you are at work, even when I am not.

Holy Spirit in me,

My comforter, comfort me when my thoughts turn to what I haven’t done

For patients, like that dressing I had to handover;

For my friend, whose call I haven’t had time to return;

For me, when I didn’t take that break so I could be there for that patient,

Remind me of Jehovah Jireh, the one who was the same yesterday when I was working, the same today when I need to recharge.

God, help me to know YOUR rest.

God, help me to know that you are at work, even when I am not.

Teach me how to be still and know that you are God yesterday, today, and forever.

Lizzie Chitty is a theatre nurse working in Nottingham and a CMF Associate Staff Worker for nurses and midwives