Lord, I Am Not Able
"Lord, I believe that I would be capable of performing, once, some extraordinary act. An action that would engage my whole being, if I were shaken by a misfortune, struck by an injustice, if one of my loved ones were in danger...
But what humbles and often discourages me is that I am not capable of giving my life piece by piece, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, giving, always giving... and giving myself!
This I cannot do, and yet it is certainly what you ask of me...
Every day a thousand fragments of life to give, in a thousand possible gestures of love, which are no longer seen because they are so habitual, and no longer noticed because they are so banal, but of which you tell me you have need to put together an offering so that one day I may truly say: To my brothers I have given all my life.
This is what I desire, Lord, but I am not capable... I cannot do it, I know, and I am afraid.
My child, I do not ask you to always succeed, but to always try.
And above all, listen to me, I ask you to accept your limits, to recognize your poverty and to offer it to me, because to give one's life does not mean only giving one's riches, but also one's poverty, one's sins.
Do this, my child, and with the pieces of wasted life, taken back from all those who wait, I will fill the gaps, giving you in return endurance, because in my hands your offered poverty will become wealth for eternity."
Source: Qumran2.net
Author: Michel Quoist.