I Say a Little Prayer for You

each morning as part of my meditation time, i say this phrase:  "may i think kindly of others, may i not get angry or think badly of others."  some days, i am successful in living up to my goal regarding others, but on most days i find myself having thoughts about others that are less than kind.  i get angry, and i think badly of others.  perhaps my failures are not as frequent as they once were, but my thoughts betray my intention to become a kinder, more compassionate person.  i find petty irritations with others arising in my mind.  most of the time, that's where they stay, but occasionally that pettiness is expressed aloud.

i suppose transforming myself into someone who has nothing but kind thoughts will be a lifelong project.  i must admit that there are times i enjoy finding fault with others and thereby congratulating myself on my moral superiority.  i say to myself, like the pharisee in luke's gospel, "i thank you that i am not like other men."  i need to "first take the log out of [my] own eye, and then [i] will see clearly to take the speck out of [my] brother’s eye," as matthew's gospel reports jesus saying.  it is all too easy to see the shortcomings of others while ignoring our own.

the question is how to let go of the delight in finding fault with others and at the same time recognizing our own faults.  in the letter to the romans, the writer says, "i often find that i have the will to do good, but not the power. that is, i don’t accomplish the good i set out to do, and the evil i don’t really want to do i find i am always doing."  this is a common frailty that we all must work to diminish if we wish to avoid thinking badly of or getting angry with others.  each morning as i meditate, i am going to set this as my intention.  perhaps through reminding myself at the start of each day that i intend to recognize my unkind thoughts towards others and label them as unwanted, my mind will turn from those destructive patterns of thinking and acting and will pivot towards more positive attitudes.

may we each recognize "the evil i don't really want to do" as that evil arises.  may we learn to think kindly of others and turn from anger and bad thoughts.  may we not take delight in the faults of others in order to feel better about ourselves.  may we make it our intention to follow the path of compassion and lovingkindness.  shalom.