"Lord, grant me the perception..."

A year or so before Mom was reunited with her O! Best Beloved, she started to console with about something or other by saying, "Lord, grant me the perception..."  

She didn't get any farther along, because I cut her off.  "Yeah, yeah, yeah - the Serenity Prayer.  Not exactly what I need right now."

Had I let her finish, would have discovered it was not what she sought to share, before being so rudely cut off: 
Lord, grant me the perception
to see the problem, 
wisdom to find a solution,
courage to carry it out - I pray thee.

Just came across the photocopy of those words, in Mom's handwriting.  I'd been so affected by the words - and the situation - had asked her to copy them out.  

Those words, in her handwriting, serve as a constant reminder to never presume, 
to LISTEN to what's being said (not what I anticipate is coming), 
to relax enough into the listening that I don't leap to interruptions, 
to acknowledge in my heart that what I'm sure is right often isn't.

Yesterday, my heart was pinged thinking that my Missouri family hadn't let me know about the death of my beloved cousin, Peggy.  Turns out that they HAD tried, but were calling my cell phone, which had been lost just around that time.  They must have thought that I was getting the voice mail messages they were leaving & not calling back. 

Lord, grant me the perception 

to remember, always & forever, 

that what I think I know might not be so;  

to look for clarification rather than feel hurt; 

that people communicate in different ways, via different modes; 

that we are all, at the most basic level, doing the best we can - I pray thee.