Prayers - Discontent With What I Have

DISCONTENT WITH WHAT I HAVE

Lord of All things,

The grass is always greener
on the other side of the fence ...
and the food looks always better
on the other person's plate ....

Let it not be so, or if it is so,
let me not care.

Let me be content with my own possessions,
and not want more, or want what others have.

Let me never be jealous or envious of others, or tend to judge them for what they may possess and I may not. To each his own,
and hopefully what I own I generously share.

Let me be always delighted and never envious of the good fortune of others!

But help me detach myself emotionally
from my own physical "things."

Guide me to understand deeply, emotionally
and spiritually, that indeed "all this will
pass away."

Let me realize that for all its seeming solidity, material security is in a sense
a phantasm, for the thief can break in
and steal, and the moth can consume, and fire or financial misfortune, or hospitalization,
or any number of other causes might separate me from all the material things which I think that I "own": my home, my health, my sanity, even my friends.

Let me not forget the lesson of Job,
who lost everything . . . except You.

You tested Job with the utmost tortures,
including loss of friends and family, but Job stood firm in his faith and did not despair of Your goodness and Your provenance
over all material and earthly possessions.

Give me please the powerful patience,
the rock-solid faith, and the iron endurance
of Your long-suffering servant Job.

Refocus my sight often, Lord, on the eternal verities, on heaven, and on You, my God,
my Hope and my Eternal Love.

And thank You for kittens, furry reminders
of innocence, and of the goodness of my God.

Amen

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