" Learning Christ" Re-Visited

Teach me, my Lord, to be sweet and gentle

In all the events of life -
in disappointments,
in the thoughtlessness of others,
in the insincerity of those I trusted,
in the unfaithfulness of those whom I relied.

Let me put myself aside,
to think of the happiness of others,
to hide my little pains ad heartaches,
so that I may be the one to suffer from them.

Teach me to profit
by the suffering that  comes across my path.

Let me see to use it that is may mellow me,
not harden nor embitter me;
that it may may make me patient, not irritable.
that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow, haughty
and overbearing.

May no one be less good for having come within my influence. No one less pure,
less true, less kind, less noble for having been a fellow-traveler in our journey
toward ETERNAL LIFE.

As I go my rounds from one distraction to another, let me whisper from time to time
A WORD OF LOVE TO THEE. May my life be lived in the super-natural, full
of power for good, and strong in its purpose of sanctity.