Growing through success and failure

It’s so easy to let a little praise go to my head and to allow a little criticism to break my heart. God, on the other hand, invites me to experience growth through success and failure, even though it’s easy to miss (to avoid?) in both cases. Here’s a fresh way to see and work through the joys and challenges of life – words easily turned into a God-directed prayer…

Let me use disappointment as material for patience.
Let me use success as material for thankfulness.
Let me use suspense as material for perseverance.
Let me use danger as material for courage.
Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering.
Let me use praise as material for humility.
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance.
Let me use pains as material for endurance.

– John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer,
quoted by Dale Vander Veen in his daily e-devotions last week
–

–