A PRAYER: ENRICH MY LIFE

What can poverty do to me when my soul is filled with riches? What can death do to me when I have faith?

I fear because I know the littleness of my desires. They are for worthless things. At times I doubt the answering of my prayers because I know I ask for such trifling things beneath the consideration of Him whose thoughts are large and loving. I say to myself: “I want the truth,” knowing all the while that is the last thing I want, knowing that truth hurts little hearts and minds. To fill the chalice of my soul with truth and to drink deeply thereof, I must endure, taking my joy in things which do not concern years but the infinite.

This is the prayer I should make: Give me strength of will and body that I may not succumb to sorrow — let it enrich rather than embitter. Make me sensitive to the enjoyment of simple pleasures and bestow upon me the wisdom not to wish for gratitude but to seek my reward for sacrifices in the knowledge of wellbeing. And in and above all, grant me the understanding which holds sympathy that Thou art glorified.

Proverbs 8:10-11 – Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold; For wisdom is better than rubies, And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.

Proverbs 23:12 – Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.