Make Me An Instrument of Your Peace, Part One

"When we try to understand God we are like children trying to hold sunlight in our hands."

This is the opening sentence to Kent Nerburn's book "Make Me An Instrument of Your Peace".

This book describes how one may live a life according to the spiritual guidance that can be found in the Prayer of St. Francis:

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury let me sow pardon,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not seek so much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in forgiving that we are forgiven,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

I am going to be adding a series of posts to this blog in the next few days containing different quotes from Nerburn's book that I have found enlightening. This should certainly give us some pause for reflection, which I try to do from time to time in this blog.