Midday prayer

I did not write this.
One of my favorite midday prayers:

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.

You failed me

There’s that cliché phrase I’ve seen on quite a few facebook statuses saying something along the lines of I’m not a perfect person or I’m hard to love.

Hard to Love- Lee Brice

Listening to that song I think of things I do that make me hard to love. I think about people I love and what makes them difficult to love at times.

So what do we do with disappointment or failure?

That’s something I struggle with. I see in almost everyone I know, including myself, the tendency to get angry with people when they’re disappointed.

The book of James defines righteousness is to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. (James 1)

Okay, easy enough. Listen. Shut up. Calm down. Then what?

I think that’s the moment we have to take time to look at who God is. In the moments when we recognize weaknesses (ours or others) are the moments when we can choose to recognize God’s strength.

Jesus lived in order to give grace. He challenged people a lot. He challenged His disciples to walk authentically with Him. They said they loved Him and would always be by his side, but they disappointed Him. They fell asleep when Jesus asked them to keep watch. Judas denied Jesus. He sold Him out. Peter denied Jesus. But Jesus didn’t quit His mission. Jesus took nails to his wrists and bled to the most brutal of all deaths. And then He returned. He revealed Himself to His people and disciples He loved. He extended His grace. Jesus gave grace so we could give grace to each other.

Who am I to withhold grace? Think about that situation when someone asks for forgiveness and you just feel frustration welling up inside you. You just want to say why it upsets you more. And then I think what am I trying to accomplish? What am I expecting out of people? Perfection? Who am I to demand perfection?

I love and sometimes that love gets rejected, but I see God taking that love someone else rejected and accepting it Himself. And He’s holding it as treasure.           

The treasures He gives are hope for brokenness, peace and forgiveness, blessings and honor. The victory is the life God blesses His imperfect people with. The victory is the way we can look at the life of Jesus to see the opposite of the world. The victory is seeing treasure when we experience failure.That’s the sweet victory through identity in Jesus.