Comfort

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.

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.

(Saint Francis of Assisi)

 

Honestly, I want so much to be understood, heard, loved, forgiven, and comforted... 

When I was going through a dark time in college, when I was also so completely consumed with the desire to be understood, etc., a good friend of mine gently confronted me along the same lines as this prayer. 

My mother-in-law said that I need to "learn to ride the waves" as a mother and not try to "master" it.  Reminded me of the imagery in Isaiah 40 of the eagle soaring--"riding the wind."  For many different reasons I always tend to try and "master" or "perfect" everything.  I end up with so little joy or none because I am never really satisfied.  I can't truly enjoy the here and now of what God has given me. 

Lately, I have dwelt on the "ugly past" and the "uncertain future" so much.  I really need to take one day at a time.  

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:27-31)