For Wholeness

FOR WHOLENESS, by Evelyn Underhill

O Lord, penetrate those murky corners

where we hide memories and tendencies

on which we do not care to look,

but which we will not disinter

and yield freely to you,

that you may purify and transmute them:

the persistent buried grudge,

The half-acknowledged enmity

which is still smouldering;

The bitterness of that loss

we have not turned into sacrifice,

the private comfort we cling to:

the secret fear of failure which saps our initiative

and is really inverted pride;

the pessimism which is an insult to your joy, Lord;

we bring all these to you,

and we review them with shame and penitence

in your steadfast light.