I can't go back, nor do I want to, but in my recent contemplation of the life I left behind, I came across this prayer that I had memorized during my days as the Model Catholic Girl:
A Prayer of St. Francis:
Lord make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, joy.
O divine master grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive--
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
I didn't understand it when I was younger, but reading it now, it speaks to my very often selfish soul and touches a very deep part of my heart. Sometimes we make everything about "us" that we forget how to be humble and put others before ourselves. Sometimes we make serving and loving more complicated than it should be.
And isn't pretty, but most of the time, we take more than we give and somehow expect something in return.
It's astonishing how God can still love us.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. May I seek to understand rather than to be understood.
Be a blessing, everyone.
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