reaching.

i've been thinking about reaching lately. how grace is God reaching out to us, and faith is us reaching back. how sometimes he wants to extend mercy to others through me. how often i get in the way.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy 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;
and 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.

amen.

-st. francis of assisi




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more 'reaching' here.