God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, which is pretty much everyone, since I’m clearly not you, God. At least not the last time I checked.
And while you’re at it, God, please give me the courage to change what I need to change about myself, which is frankly a lot, since, once again, I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect. It’s better for me to focus on changing myself than to worry about changing other people, who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying, I can’t change anyway.
Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter than everyone else in the room, that no one knows what they’re talking about except me, or that I alone have all the answers.
Basically, God, grant me the wisdom to remember that I’m not you.
Amen. — Fr. James Martin SJ
Morning Offering is a daily post by Joe Barkovich who lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario. Daily photo by Joe Barkovich.
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen. — Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
Morning Offering is a daily post by Joe Barkovich who lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario. Daily photo by Joe Barkovich.
O God, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke. Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst. Amen. — William Barclay
Morning Offering is a daily post by Joe Barkovich who lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario. Daily photo by Joe Barkovich.
Today’s Reflection: Snow & Silence — I love the snow that silences our busy world, but I’m also grateful when it’s gone. It’s good to stop and find time to see nature’s midnight tracks revealed in the still of the morning… God’s hand moving across His creation leaving messages of love for us — Bodmin Hermit
Morning Offering is a daily post by Joe Barkovich who lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario. Daily photo by Joe Barkovich.
Today’s Reflection: Lord God, help me to orient my life toward you. Help me to serve you rather than wealth. Help me to prioritize those things that matter to you, and forget about what the world values. Help me to follow the path that you prepare for me. Amen. —Jesuit Prayer site
Morning Offering is a daily post by Joe Barkovich who lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario. Daily photo by Joe Barkovich.
Today’s Reflection: Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wider seas Where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future In strength, courage, hope, and love. —Attributed to Sir Francis Drake, c. 1577
Morning Offering is a daily post by Joe Barkovich who lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario. Daily photo by Joe Barkovich.
Today’s Reflection: Slow me down, Lord. Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind. Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time. Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills. Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory. Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep. Teach me the art of taking minute vacations—of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book.
Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that I may know that the race is not always to the swift— that there is more to life than increasing its speed. Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny. Amen.—Wilfred Arlan Peterson
Morning Offering is a daily post by Joe Barkovich who lives in his hometown of Welland, Ontario. Daily photo by Joe Barkovich.