A Prayer for Wholeness in Preparation for Thanksgiving

O Lord, penetrate those murky corners where we hide memories and tendencies we don't care to look at, which we will not dig up and yield freely up to you, so that you may purify and transform them: the persistent buried grudge, the half-acknowledged anger toward someone which is still smoldering; the bitterness of that loss we clutch and stew over instead of surrendering to you as a sacrifice; the private comfort we turn to as an escape but which only keeps us from turning to you; the secret fear of failure which saps our drive and is really inverted pride; the pessimism and cynicism which we prop up as a defense in a depressing world but which is an insult to your joy, Lord; we bring all these to you, and we review them with sorrow and penitence in your steadfast light -- and we ask you to make us new, in Jesus' name. (Based on a prayer from Evelyn Underhill)