You have a Job to do, Soul

Just some food for thought from Gregory of Nazianzus

To His Own Soul
You have a job to do, soul, and a great one, if you like:
examine yourself, what is it you are and how you act,
where you come from, and where you are going to end,
and whether to live is this very life you're living, or something
else besides.

You have a job to do, soul; by these things cleanse your life.
Make me know God and God's mysteries.
What was there before this universe, and why is this
universe here for you?
Where has it come from, and where is it going?

You have a job to do, soul, by these things cleanse your life.
How does God guide and turn the universe:
or why are some things permanent, while other things flow away,
and us especially, in this changing life?

You have a job to do, soul: look to God alone.
What was my former glory, what is this present arrogance?
What will be my crown, and what the end of my life?
Of these things inform me, and check my mind from wandering.
A job you have to do, soul: lest you suffer in deep trouble.

-On God and Man; The Theological Poetry of St. Gregory of Nazianzus

Night

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

by Wendell Berry

Communion

I was a chalice bearer at church today - I always like being a part of communion, even if I'm terrified that I'll drop and break the pottery chalice or spill red wine on someone's Sunday best. A woman today came to the alter, just like everyone else, but she was weeping and a tear fell into the communion cup. What a perfect moment. It reminded me of why I love communion so much.

A New Favorite Prayer to Share

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis
it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.

This poem (a "final analysis" prayer, putting things in proper perspective) is engraved on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta. Evidently it is a revision, either by Mother Teresa or someone else, of an earlier poem by Kent Keith. She liked the revised version, and put it on her wall.