Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Others interests first...

Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Lord,
as I reflect on how to
"look not to your own interests,
but to the interests of others"
your Spirit brings me to one of the prayers
attributed to Saint 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 discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
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.
I know it best as a hymn: http://youtu.be/lZzdh5xpM2Q

Lord,
that prayer/hymn consistently challenges me
in times of conflict with my spouse or with others
that the hard work is NOT trying to get my point across
but rather the work that MUST be done
is to listen hard, listen deep and WORK
to console and comfort the other,
to understand the other,
to choose to love the other,
to give myself to the other,
to forgive the other...

So hard, Lord, so hard
and yet it is exactly
what you do for us EVERY DAY.

Lord,
make me an agent of YOUR kind of peace,
a peace that surpasses human ways of thinking and being.
May it be so in my life today.
Amen.

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