An Instrument of Peace

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.
Lord, may I not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
Because it is in giving that we receive, in pardoning that we are pardoned.
-Saint Francis of Assisi

The Power to Descend

We have all had times on the mount when we have seen things from God's standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong.
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We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and eastheitic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valleym for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle...
The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something.
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If we are going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed; you cannot drink grapes.

-Oswald Chambers