“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you.”

John 14:27

The other day I was driving and I came to a stop sign, but it wasn’t just the stop sign that stopped me.  This beautiful sunset stopped me and I had to just soak in its beauty.  In this stressed out world, I just need to stop…and breathe…and take in beauty to ground myself.  I have been repeating Francis of Assisi’s prayer in my heart over and over these days. So may you take a moment now to stop…take in some beauty…breathe…get grounded…and read these words from Francis and find some peace.  (Deep breath in…deep breath out…)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.

(St. Francis of Asissi 1182 – 1226)