O God, we thank thee that so often we have been happily mistaken in our estimate of other people; that so many times we have been startled by a flash of beauty where we looked only for dullness, and a glow of fire where we expected to find nothing but ashes. May we be delivered from the folly of demanding that others shall always be at their best, while we forget that we ourselves are not always at our best. Save us from the false judgment of feeling that others are always as mean as they appeared to be in some perverse moment. May we be ready to forgive people for what they are, as well as for what they do, since in thy great Being they have as much right to be as we have. May we not feel too bad about the ways in which others have their good times. If we put ourselves in the seat of the scornful, may we find it very uncomfortable. May we never forget that everyone is fighting a secret battle. As for our own lives, may we grow more like what we seem to our best friends and less like what we seem to our worst enemies. And may we not defraud ourselves by too little giving and forgiving. Amen.
--The Rev. Vivian T. Pomeroy
No comments:
Post a Comment