Gracious God, for the goodness and

Gracious God, for the goodness and beauty of creation we thank you. For the way your creation nurtures and inspires us, we are grateful.

Yet, the more we pay attention to the world, the more we see its brokenness as well as its beauty. We wonder if we can know the world as it is and still love it. In this, as in all things, we need your help.

Even today, Lord, may I see and delight in the beauty of this world. May this draw me near to you with gratitude and wonder. By your Spirit, may I also see the brokenness of the world, not drawing back from that which is painful. Grant me your vision, your compassion. Help me, I pray, to live in the tension of the beautiful and the broken. Help me to know this world truly and to love it, even as you do. Amen.