Do not pray
for the outcome you desire
pray only that the will of God
be done
and that your will
be harmoniously aligned
with God’s
this is the prayer of humility
this is the prayer of wisdom
this is the prayer of courage
to desire only that which God wills
is the path of peace
PATH OF PEACE
By Robert Van Valkenburgh
Meditations of a Gentle Warrior
To read my longer writing, subscribe at robertvanvalkenburgh.com
The help you needed may be different than the help others need from you.
It is an honorable thing to be for others the kind of mentor that you needed yourself.
This is a noble goal and a powerful way to be of service.
As you grow, however, you may find this strategy to be extremely limiting.
Not everyone needs what you needed.
Instead of trying to be who you needed, the higher calling is to be who others need, but this requires a greater amount of compassion and wisdom because it means looking past and feeling beyond yourself.
Good mentors serve who they once were, but great mentors serve who is in front of them.
GREAT MENTORS
By Robert Van Valkenburgh
Meditations of a Gentle Warrior
To read my longer writing, subscribe at robertvanvalkenburgh.com
Respect your energy.
Be mindful of how you use it.
Be careful who you share it with.
Do not waste it.
Do not give it away frivolously.
The source is infinite, but your capacity is finite.
You only get so much to work with every day.
Put it to good use.
Give yourself to your work and your purpose.
Give of yourself to those who need and appreciate it.
Be generous but prudent.
Be gracious but discerning.
Honor your limitations.
Protect your boundaries.
Be a vessel for positive change in yourself and the world around you.
Information gathering can become a form of procrastination.
Do not spend so much time gaining knowledge that you fail to act.
Progress and growth are built on action.
Information, knowledge, and data are merely the foundation from which you can make intelligent decisions and take informed action.
Although it must be noted that sometimes the best information leads us to correctly choose inaction or a change of action, action is and should be the goal of information gathering because life is meant to be lived, not just studied.
Studying or researching so much that you never do anything is essentially a decision not to live.
Do the intellectual work.
Study and gather information as needed, but use the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding you gain to live a better life, not to hide from life.
As we travel through life, there are burdens we must bear along the way.
It is through this that we gain our strength.
We must bear each of these burdens for as long as is necessary, but not for a minute longer.
Bearing burdens which no longer serve us does not build more strength.
It eventually breaks us.
Letting go of unnecessary burdens, therefore, is its own type of strength.
By Robert Van Valkenburgh
Meditations on God 