What is this self, O lord, that I seek to serve you?

 

I know myself a little,

compromised, fearful, living with doubt,

eager, seeking, hopeful.

 

I know a little of the lord,

challenging, healing, teaching,

suffering and loving, dead and alive.

 

I know a little of the world,

all this struggle to make a life,

amid great powers, lost in the crowd,

the tides of fashion and mirage of wealth.

 

 

I know a little of the church,

love the prayers, see the frailty,

depend on the fellowship,

astonished at such faithfulness,

troubled by triviality.

 

God of grace, make me useful,

give me time to become

what you see in me,

and help me to listen

as I meet divinity in humanity.

A reflection on the journey to 2010

by Bernard Thorogood