God did not give us a spirit of cowardliness but a spirit of power and of love and of self-control

If it is really so that there is something in life that has or can have such power over a person that it little by little makes him forget everything that is noble and sacred and makes him a slave in the service of the world, of the moment; if it is really so that time has or can gain such power over a person that while it adds days to his life it also every passing day measures the greater distance of his life from the divine, until he, trapped in everydayness and habit, becomes alienated from the eternal and the original; if experience has taught us that this has also happend to someone who once had a strong sense of the pesence of the eternal-- then it certainly would be beneficial to recommend every means against this ... God be praised , there are many means, just as the dangers are many . One such means is resolution, because resolution joins a person with the eternal, brings the eternal into time for him , jars him out of the drowsiness of uniformity, breaks the spell of habit, cuts off the tedious bickering of troublesome thoughts, and pronounces a benediction upon even the weakest beginning, when it is indeed a beginning.

Kierkegaard

Father in heaven!

You hold all the good gifts in your gentle hand.

Your abundace is richer than can be grasped by human understanding.

You are willing to give, and your goodness is beyond the understanding of a human heart, because you fulfill every prayer and give what we pray for

or what is far better than what we pray for.

Give everyone his allotted share as it is well pleasing to you, but also give everyone the assurance that everything comes from you ,

so that joy will not tear us away from you in the forgetfulness of pleasure,

so that sorrow will not seperate you from us,

but in joy we may go to you and in sorrow remain with you,

so that when our days are numbered and the outer being is wasting away,

death may not come in its own name , cold and terrible,

but gentle and friendly, with greetings and news, with witness from you,

our Father who is in heaven !Amen.

Soren Kierkegaard