A New Twist on an Old Habit

Bart and I have prayed together before going to sleep every night we have been in the same house since the night we were married. Sometimes I must confess that our prayers are pathetic. We're exhausted and sometimes completing an intense discussion and at times the prayers are short and even ill-tempered (no, no, not that. Anything but ill-tempered). Anyway....

Bart has a book of prayers and he decided that maybe we should start reading prayers to give us some variety. So I opened up the other day and flipped through, landing on a familiar prayer. In fact, this prayer was sung by a quartet at our wedding. WE had no idea at that point where God would lead us. But as I read it I could not believe how applicable it is to the journey God has chosen for us in parenting hurt children. I could go through and explain to you why but there is no need. It speaks for itself. Here are the words, exactly as they were sung at the wedding.

St. Francis' Prayer

Lord, make us instruments of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let us 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 we 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.