Historical Birthday Prayer of Thanksgiving

Eternal, kind, and merciful God! By Thy grace I have lived to celebrate another birthday. And I thank Thee, not only that Thou hast given me the bodily birth, but also that Thou hast given me the new birth in Holy Baptism. By the one I became a human being and Thy creature, and by the other I became Thy child and heir. Therefore this day shall be my day of praise, prayer, and thanksgiving. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Have I not reason to praise and thank Thee, my God? Thou hast not only blessed me with a sound body and straight limbs, but hast let me be born of Christian parents, who from my youth up trained me in the knowledge of Thee. If Thou hadst let me be born of Jewish, Mohammedan, or heathen parents, I would probably be as blind and obstinate as they. But now I know Thee and love Thee, and have in Thee the life and salvation of my soul. And as I have been brought up in Thine arms, so Thou hast led and guided me, and provided for me during all the following years, graciously preserving me to this day.

O my God, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth, which Thou hast shown to me. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my body and my soul. But O, I cannot declare it all. It would be easier to count the stars in the sky than to count the benefits which I have received from Thee. From how many dangers hast Thou not delivered me! How much harm hast Thou not warded off from me! Thy Spirit has instructed, ruled, and guided me, and, when I was inclined to sin, has warned and restrained me.

And now, as my years increase and Thy benefits become more numerous, I think of the sins which I have committed in my life-time. O forgive me for Jesus’ sake; blot out my sins with His precious blood; and let me for His sake find favor in Thy sight. Grant me grace to spend the remaining days which Thou hast allotted to me, in Thy fear and in holiness of life, so that all my actions may be well-pleasing to Thee. And since I do not know how many more days I shall spend upon the earth, and yet know, on the other hand, that Thou hast set bounds to my life which I cannot pass, guard me against shortening my life by anger, intemperance, sin, fool-hardiness or crime. Let me spend my allotted days in health, under Thy blessing and protection, till for Christ’s sake Thou shalt give me, instead of this earthly and transient life, eternal life in heaven. Till then I will celebrate this anniversary, whenever it returns, to Thy honor and praise and glory. Amen.