Hollow Reed

I had no idea that this prayer continued past the song that I knew:

Oh, God, make me a hollow reed, from which the pith of self hath been blown so that I may become as a clear channel through which Thy Love may flow to others. I have left behind me impatience and discontent. I will chafe no more at my lot. I commit myself wholly into thy hands, for thou are my Guide in the desert, the Teacher of my ignorance, the Physician of my sickness. I am a soldier in my King’s army. I have given up my will to Him and my life to dispose of as He may please. I know not what fate Thou deignest for me, nor will inquire or seek to know. The task of the day suffices for me, and all the future is Thine. Thou changest weakness to strength, doubt to faith, perplexity to understanding. When I am fit to bear the burden, Thou wilt lay it on my shoulders. When I am prepared to take the field, Thou wilt assign me a place in the Army of Light. Now I have no other duty than to equip myself for Thy Service. With eagerness and patience, with hope and gratitude, I bend to the task of the hour, lest when Thy call comes I be found unready.

I love the song that takes the first sentence, and makes it a round – not that I can find it on YouTube at this point. 🙂  But I found that this was *not* among the Baha’i prayers I’d learned, but rather a compilation of a commentary on Revelation by Abdu’l-Baha and from a talk by Hand of the Cause George Townsend.  And while it may not be one of the “official” prayers, it is certainly one worth saying, particularly when we find our own egos getting in the way of what we need to do.