A Franciscan Benediction

From my reading today there was, as an aside, this benediction:

A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort

At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships

So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger

At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears

To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,

So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and

To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness

To believe that you can make a difference in the world,

So that you can do what others claim cannot be done

To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen

(p105, Prayer by Philip Yancey)

the past & prayer

Have you ever had thoughts and memories of the past float through your mind in a way that made you wonder how things turned out the way they did? Why did that relationship get all weird? How did that work at all? How did that get to be so great? How did that all fall apart? Was the mistake made my fault, their fault or our fault? If we had taken the time would relationship have been restored?

Big questions really. Tough questions. I think it's those questions that seek to help us see ourselves more clearly, or simply slip into blaming others. I'd like God to simply work in the areas where I've made a mess of things, and I'm really thankful for all that he has done.

I read this quote today from Yancey's book entitled prayer, Yancey quoting Ray Anderson;

"Prayer is not a means of removing the unknown and unpredictable elements in life, but rather a way of including the unknown and unpredictable in the outworking of the grace of God in our lives."

(p82, PRAYER, by Philip Yancey)

I don't know about you, but prayer and the past and all of the stuff we carry in our hearts and heads can be overwhelming. Yet for me the grace of God still shines through.

I hope all that made sense to someone other than me, if not, please refer to the title of this blog.

hmmm

I thought about blogging today, but I don't have anything to say and I don't feel like it.