A Goodnight Prayer for the Family

Father, the house is quieting down, and I bring You my family before I sleep.

Thank You for every person under this roof tonight, and for the ones we love sleeping under other roofs — across town, across the world. One family, kept in one set of hands: Yours.

Forgive us for the ways we were impatient with each other today. We are hardest, somehow, on the people we love most. Let no sharp word from today follow any of us into tomorrow.

Watch over each one as they sleep. Give the tired ones deep rest. Give the worried ones peace. Give the little ones good dreams.

Thank You that home isn't the walls — it's the people, and it's You in the middle of us. Keep us close to each other, and closer to You.

Goodnight, Father. We're all in Your keeping now.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this as the last one up, turning off the lights — or out loud together, as the family's final word of the day. It's a good prayer for nights when the household went to bed a little cross with each other.

A Verse to Hold On To

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." — Joshua 24:15 (KJV)