Father I know that all my life - A prayer for contentment

 

On Sunday evening, 5th March we looked at Psalm 131 which I descried as a picture of contentment - spiritual contentment in God. During the sermon I quoted at length the hymn 'Be still my soul' as an example of someone seeking for the calm the contentment  that David speaks of in the Psalm. I also had in my notes the words of another hymn by Anna Laetitia Waring which could also be called 'A prayer for contentment. I quote below the fullest version of it I can find. I am most familiar with the first  5 verses which were in the Revised Church Hymnary (548) on which I was raised but the whole hymn/poem is worth quoting at length.. I hope it may be of help especially where we find ourselves wrestling with God's providence or will for our lives

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Father, I know that all my life
Is portioned out for me,
And the changes that are sure to come,
I do not fear to see;
But I ask Thee for a present mind
Intent on pleasing Thee.

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love,
Through constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smiles,
And to wipe the weeping eyes;
And a heart at leisure from itself,
To soothe and sympathize.

I would not have the restless will
That hurries to and fro,
Seeking for some great thing to do,
Or secret thing to know;
I would be treated as a child,
And guided where I go.

Wherever in the world I am,
In whatsoe'er estate,
I have a fellowship with hearts
To keep and cultivate;
And a work of lowly love to do
For the Lord on whom I wait.

So I ask Thee for the daily strength,
To none that ask denied,
And a mind to blend with outward life
While keeping at Thy side;
Content to fill a little space,
If Thou be glorified.

And if some things I do not ask,
In my cup of blessing be,
I would have my spirit filled the more
With grateful love to Thee —
More careful — not to serve Thee much,
But to please Thee perfectly.

There are briers besetting every path,
That call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot,
And an earnest need for prayer;
But a lowly heart that leans on Thee
Is happy anywhere.

In a service which Thy will appoints,
There are no bonds for me;
For my inmost heart is taught “the truth”
That makes Thy children “free;”
And a life of self–renouncing love,
Is a life of liberty.

Anna Laetitia Waring (1820 - 1910)