Another Prayer for Your Workday
Published: 02/23/2010 02:03 PM
More often than not, we humans end up feeling like instruments of others. We get to work. We get on the road. We come home. And somewhere along the way, someone gets our goat. Someone gets at us and pulls the string that makes our blood pressure rise and our day go wrong.
Does it have to be that way?
I believe not. One of the important realities of a Christian life is that we are challenged to embrace the power we have to make a difference in this world. We are not an instrument of someone else's power games and manipulation. We are an instrument of God who desires reconciliation and wholeness for this world (and especially in our individual lives).
Though St. Francis probably did not write this prayer, it is a powerful way to remind ourselves of this true reality. When you feel your blood pressure rising, when you feel yourself losing control of your day, take a moment to pray this silently or out loud. Then return to your day seeking to transform that hopeless situation into something more positive, knowing that God is by our side.
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.
- Rev. Nathan
