“If it costs you your peace, it’s too expensive.”
—Unknown
“It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.”
—Naomi Williams
“Calm me, Lord, as you calmed the storm. Still me, Lord, keep me from harm. Let all tumult within me cease. Enfold me, Lord, in your peace.”
—Celtic prayer
“I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
—John 16:33
“One day at a time, one step at a time, and you’ll get there.”
—Bill W.
— 1 —
Engage
Respond; don’t react.
Listen; don’t talk.
Think; don’t assume.
—Raji Lukkoor
— 2 —
The Serenity Prayer
God, grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
—Reinhold Niebuhr
— 3 —
One Moment at a Time
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right if
I surrender to His will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.
—William Hutchison Murray
— 4 —
No Line
When someone is full of Love and Compassion,
he cannot draw a line between
two countries, two faiths, or two religions.
—Amma
— 5 —
Read Your Own Heart Right
We would have inward peace,
Yet will not look within;
We would have misery cease,
Yet will not cease from sin;
Once, read your own heart right
And you will have done with fears;
Man gets no other light
Though he search a thousand years.
—Matthew Arnold, 1852
— 6 —
Quiet Your Mind
When I had no friend, I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy, I opposed my body.
When I had no temple, I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means, fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.
Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover, I courted my sleep.
—Robert Pinsky
— 7 —
Songs in the Night
Come, Spirit,
make me docile to your voice.
Help me debate angels.
Let your will be done in me
even if it means
misunderstanding,
rejection,
scandal.
Give me wisdom to find you
in the irrational:
heavens gone awry,
astrologers’ predictions,
Give me such hospitality of heart that
songs in the night.
family,
foreign seers,
poor shepherds and animals
find a home in my presence.
—Benedictine Sisters, Living in Peace
— 8 —
The Healing Power of Beauty
Today, like every other day,
we wake up empty and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
—Rumi, 13th century Persian poet
— 9 —
Gifts of Grace
Sometimes we may ask God for success,
and He gives us physical and mental stamina.
We might plead for prosperity,
and we receive enlarged perspective
and increased patience,
or we petition for growth
and are blessed with the gift of grace.
He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence
as we strive to achieve worthy goals.