Make our hearts as the heart of a little child

We bless you, O most holy God, for the unfathomable love whereby you have ordained that spirit with spirit can meet and that we, weak and erring mortals, should have this ready access to the heart of Him who moves the stars.

With bitterness and true compunction of heart we acknowledge before you the gross and selfish thoughts that we so often allow to enter our minds and to influence our deeds.

We confess, O God –

That often we let our minds wander down unclean and forbidden ways;
That often we deceive ourselves as to where our plain duty lies;
That often, by concealing our real motives, we pretend to be better than we are;
That often our honesty is only a matter of policy;
That often our affection for our friends is only a refined form of caring for ourselves;
That often our sparing of our enemies is due to nothing more than cowardice;
That often we do good deeds only that they may be seen of men, and shun evil ones only because we fear they may be found out.

O holy One, let the fire of your love enter our hearts, and burn up all this coil of meanness and hypocrisy, and make our hearts as the heart of a little child.

John Baillie