{"id":5060,"date":"2013-07-11T09:26:33","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T08:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mentor.com\/colinwalls\/?p=5060"},"modified":"2026-03-26T16:41:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:41:04","slug":"the-nuns-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/2013\/07\/11\/the-nuns-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nun’s Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

I do not do religion, but I can be inspired by spiritual things from time to time. Many years ago, I was driving to work and the “God slot” came on the radio. The speaker quoted a prayer which had been written by a nun in the 17th Century. They were musing on the fact that it seemed just as relevant to modern life.<\/p>\n

I agreed …<\/p>\n

This was some years before the Internet was readily available and, to get a transcript of the prayer, I needed to write to the BBC, who responded by sending me a copy. Such things seem so much simpler nowadays.<\/p>\n

I reread it recently and thought that it would be nice to share:<\/p>\n

—<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
Lord,<\/address>\n
Thou knowest better than I know myself,<\/address>\n
that I am growing older and will some day be old.<\/address>\n
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every<\/address>\n
subject and on every occasion.<\/address>\n
Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs.<\/address>\n
Make me thoughtful but not moody;<\/address>\n
helpful but not bossy.<\/address>\n
With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all,<\/address>\n
but Thou knowest, Lord,<\/address>\n
that I want a few friends at the end.<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details;<\/address>\n
give me wings to get to the point.<\/address>\n
Seal my lips on my aches and pains.<\/address>\n
They are increasing,<\/address>\n
and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by.<\/address>\n
I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others’ pains,<\/address>\n
but help me endure them with patience.<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
I dare not ask for improved memory,<\/address>\n
but for a growing humility,<\/address>\n
and a lessening cocksureness<\/address>\n
when my memory seems to clash with the memory of others.<\/address>\n
Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.<\/address>\n
Keep me reasonably sweet.<\/address>\n
I do not want to be a saint<\/address>\n
(some of them are hard to live with)<\/address>\n
but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.<\/address>\n
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places<\/address>\n
and talents in unexpected people.<\/address>\n
And give me, O Lord,<\/address>\n
the grace to tell them so.<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n
—<\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/address>\n

I can readily identify with many of these sentiments, as I am sure anyone past the first flush of youth could agree. I find the last four lines most inspiring of all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I do not do religion, but I can be inspired by spiritual things from time to time. Many years ago,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71677,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[302],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-off-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10187,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5060\/revisions\/10187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5060"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=5060"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=5060"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}