Prayers

#664 - I'm So Naive
Volume 2 - Prayers to Love Our Neighbor

Dear Father, I am so naive. I trust people. I trust their stated intentions. I trust their expressed beliefs. I trust their promises. Surely, they are telling the truth. Surely, they wouldn't deceive me, certainly not intentionally. Father, of course there are people out there who intentionally mislead. However, there may be many more people out there who don't know who they are or what they believe. They don't understand their own hearts. They deceive themselves. They have feelings but they couldn't explain them if their lives depended on it. They will make statements that sound of integrity and confidence but the statements are disguises to hide their own confusion. Father, I need to assume that a person's words are not in alignment with their true thoughts and belief systems. Who goes around saying "I am my own god"? Who goes around saying "I doubt God's character"? Who goes around saying they are "idolaters"? But that's who we are. Every one of us. Our thoughts and intentions are rebellious all the time. I can't go through life not trusting people. Father, how will I know that someone has integrity? A person's integrity is authenticated by how they live their lives, not by their words. It is one thing to say You care about the poor. It's something else to volunteer regularly at a homeless shelter. It is one thing to say that You care about a friend. It is something else to stay up all night with that friend while their child is in the emergency room. Father, it is our actions that give us integrity, not our words. Father, help me to be a person of integrity. May my actions speak for me, revealing a man or woman of noble character. May I assess others by their actions, showing them compassion from the very start but trusting their character by what they do in their daily lives. Amen.

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