A Morning Prayer for Patience with Difficult People

Lord, I already know whom I will face today, the person who tests me, who pushes the same buttons until I snap. Even now my jaw is tight just thinking about it. I need help before I walk in there.

I confess that my first instinct is irritation, that I have rehearsed sharp replies in my head and assumed the worst about their motives. My patience runs out long before my day does.

So I ask You to do something in me that I cannot do alone. Soften the hard reaction. Give me a longer fuse and a kinder eye. Help me see a person, not just a problem.

You said love is patient and kind, that it is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. That is not natural to me, but it is Your Spirit's work, so I ask for it.

Let me respond with grace instead of reacting with heat. Guard my tongue and steady my heart. I give You this relationship and the friction in it, and I trust You to make me gentle. Amen.