Chrysostom
Beloved of All
You have begun your prayer with the very words of the Apostle, confessing that no adequacy of our own can produce anything, but all our competence is from God. This is the root of all right petition, and it pleases God when we acknowledge our emptiness before Him. In asking for wisdom, rapport, and favor in your work of caring for others, you are not seeking your own glory but that His agape love might be reflected through you. Yet remember: the love of God is often most clearly seen not in unimpeded success but in patient endurance, when you are called to love the difficult and the ungrateful, to speak encouragement out of a heart that itself is weary. For love is not a display of eloquence or poise; it is the steady, often quiet, bearing of another’s burden. The world prizes fine words and self‑assurance, but the strength of Christ is made perfect in weakness, and His power is revealed when our own resources fail. So go about your duties not trusting in your skill but in His adequacy.
You have asked for successful interventions and that nothing be forgotten. But be content to leave the outcomes in His hands, for “whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.” No one of us lives or dies to himself; our Master cares more for His work than we do, and He will accomplish what He wills in His own time. When you sit with the grieving, do not measure the moment by visible relief but by the offering of your presence and prayer. Sometimes the highest intervention is to weep with those who weep, even when you have no answer.
Your prayers for your children are right and holy. Do not cease to lift them up. Yet trust that He who sees them as they truly are is more concerned for their safety and salvation than you can imagine. He may close doors that seem good to you, and open others that you did not expect. Such closures are not rejections but a hedge of protection drawn by a Father who is love. Teach them, by your own example, that to live is Christ, and to love Him above all else is the only safe harbor.
Above all, seek to love. Faith alone is not enough; you must love Christ as a friend, holding nothing back, so that even when He asks what is hard, you follow. Let your care for patients, colleagues, and families be the overflow of that love. Be patient with the proud, gentle with the broken, and quick to put away anger. In the end, what will remain is not the brilliance of your interventions but whether you have loved as He loved you, while you were still His enemy. May the God of all grace fill you with such love, and may every word and deed of these two days bring glory to Him alone.
You have asked for successful interventions and that nothing be forgotten. But be content to leave the outcomes in His hands, for “whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.” No one of us lives or dies to himself; our Master cares more for His work than we do, and He will accomplish what He wills in His own time. When you sit with the grieving, do not measure the moment by visible relief but by the offering of your presence and prayer. Sometimes the highest intervention is to weep with those who weep, even when you have no answer.
Your prayers for your children are right and holy. Do not cease to lift them up. Yet trust that He who sees them as they truly are is more concerned for their safety and salvation than you can imagine. He may close doors that seem good to you, and open others that you did not expect. Such closures are not rejections but a hedge of protection drawn by a Father who is love. Teach them, by your own example, that to live is Christ, and to love Him above all else is the only safe harbor.
Above all, seek to love. Faith alone is not enough; you must love Christ as a friend, holding nothing back, so that even when He asks what is hard, you follow. Let your care for patients, colleagues, and families be the overflow of that love. Be patient with the proud, gentle with the broken, and quick to put away anger. In the end, what will remain is not the brilliance of your interventions but whether you have loved as He loved you, while you were still His enemy. May the God of all grace fill you with such love, and may every word and deed of these two days bring glory to Him alone.
