I ran across this today from Mary Oliver in Upstream and it seemed like a perfect prayer:
“May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful.”
This speaks to me of the balance that is required in life, particularly in a life of faith. It occurs to me that a life of faith must include the desire to be “useful,” but also includes the recognition of the need for, the usefulness of, others (and/or The Other). It is alarmingly easy for me to unilaterally decide just what the universe needs and just what I (and others/the Other) can do to best accomplish that. But that nail, that “tiny but useful” nail, can’t forge or drive itself.
It occurs to me... 