Father,
Your Name is Holy. Thank You for calling me to grow to the stature of Christ and for staying with me while I stumble and learn.
Yesterday, a few things happened, and I got angry pretty quickly. When I was going to my campus at night to get a charger that I'd forgotten, I hopped on a minibus that would travel a longer distance than most of the minibusses there. Halfway through the ride, the driver and redaat changed their minds and decided to drop us off halfway through the journey.
You saw how I let out a heavy sigh and tried to resist snapping at the passenger who was trying to console me, telling me about the minibus I could take once I was out. I told the nice guy I knew where the next station was and tried to say that annoyingly long Amharic word for thanks.
I had thought, 'thank you for your kind words, but can they carry me to the station near my university? Exactly. They can't.'
As I feared, there were no minibusses at that unofficial bus stop for a long time. But, Father, I met an older Muslim woman who made the wait more tolerable. We ended up boarding the same minibus where she blessed me and insisted on paying for my ride, saying that it was sadaqah. But I'd only given Mr. Nice the cold shoulder. Now I wonder if my niceness just depends on external factors, like whether things are going my way or not. In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul had written that the kind of love You Are does not get provoked, never fails, bears all things, and endures all things.
I really want to get there, Father. I know that I can never get close to that without You, so keep me in Your palm so that I'm not just an indifferent rock that endures and endures without exploding.
No. Help me exude all of the qualities that You've endowed me with when You called me Your own. If I get any hatred or betrayal, may I absorb it like the ground absorbs cold hail. And may I only sprout lovely fruit in return. I pray that all of my reactions be driven by love, always.
You are Love, and You called me to be Your child. So, I pray that I resemble Christ more and more throughout my stay here.
Love,
-w
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:22-26 NKJV