Help me, O Lord, remember not the mud but your mercies.

 
Acts 13: 44-52
 
Mud that either holds us fast, or is thrown up at us, is downright messy either way and can even be dangerous.  So it is with memories of the difficulties in life; I can become stuck in images of problems past, and sometimes the world triggers old memories that can spatter grief, fear or rage over life in the present. But memories of God’s mercy and healing can similarly hold my focus in the realities of holy love, and spatter the present day with rays of beauty and life-giving joy. The disciples of Jesus even practised the mercy not mud principle in the face of active persecution.  We are told that the disciples shook the dust off their feet in protest against their persecutors and went on, ‘filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.’ Help me, O Lord, remember not the mud but your mercies.  
 
O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things.
(Psalm 98:1)
  
If we are intended for great ends, we are called through great hazards.
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman
 
Soli gloriam dei .