Dear Lord, you give so much, while I give so little.

I should give up everything for you,

   trusting you to care for my every need.

Yet I fail, I fail, I fail – I could say it a thousand times –

   I fail to give up everything for you.

I hate even to continue living in the shame of my failure,

   because I know that the only purpose in life

   is to offer back to you all that you have given to us.

How many imperfections I see in myself!

I would like to be knocked unconscious

   so that I am no longer aware of my wickedness.

Lord, knock your grace into me, that I may truly be good.

Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582, Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun and Catholic reformer

__________________

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

not by works, so that no one can boast.

image Art4TheGlryOfGod Photography by Sharon