The thing I’ve learned about changing is if you’re motivated by despair in yourself you’ll only ever see how far you need to go. But if you’re motivated by love for God, you’ll be filled with gratitude for how far you’ve come.
Ted Loder, in his book My Heart in My Mouth, writes this prayer:
O God of such truth as sweeps away all lies,
of such grace as shrivels all excuses,
come now to find us
for we have lost our selves
in a shuffle of disguises
and the rattle of empty words.Let your Spirit move mercifully
to recreate us from
the chaos of our lives. . . .Our prayer is to change, oh God,
not out of despair of self
but for love of you,
and for the selves we long to become
before we simply waste away.Let your mercy move in and through us now. . . .
Amen.
Take a moment today to stop, sit down, listen to yourself breath in and out, and read this prayer—slowly—remembering that it’s God’s love and mercy that transform you.