I don’t strive for wealth or aspire for worldly fame
Recognition and popularity have never been my aim

I don’t want a life built upon such a shaky foundation
Or false dreams or realities of a blind world’s creation

My Christianity doesn’t reside in fancy temples or crowds
It’s in my heart. My heart is big and my actions speak loud

To live modest, to be gracious, kind and meek
These are my goals and the treasures I seek

Before I judge another person and put them on a shelf
I look closely at my heart to see what’s revealed about myself

I see what insight I can gain, what ways I can grow
What truth I can obtain and what mercy I can show

If looking for one who errs, I need not look beyond my own reflection
The picture’s not always so clear if it’s truth or my own projection

We all fall short and take a misguided path at times
Axes falls much swifter when it’s someone else’s crimes

It’s easy to see another’s faults from a pedestal so high
If we say we’ve never been wrong, then surely we lie

If I see myself as I truly am, the truth will set me free
To learn and grow into the person I’m truly meant to be

I can live with open eyes that are receptive and aware of the truth
It can be a hard pill to swallow and doesn’t always go down smooth

It’s a remedy for superficial masks leaving no place to hide
It’s an antidote for self-indulgence and a cure for selfish pride

Nothing I do will ever make me better than the person beside me
But I can be better than I was yesterday if its wisdom that guides me

I’m less concerned with people’s defects and more concerned with their hearts
I’d rather help people hold it together, than tear them down and pick them apart

When I forgive others and myself, we grow stronger together
Forging loving friendships that can withstand any weather

I can strengthen those around me by loving them as they are
By accepting them with their faults, failures, quirks, and scars

We are in this world together and I can love as I wish to be loved
With the tenderness of a sparrow and the gentleness of a dove

I can turn away from the temptation of unrealistic expectations
And be molded by compassion, not by ivory-towered idealizations

I can focus on seeing the goodness in others and helping those in need
I can help people grow in peace by planting peaceful seeds

It’s much less burdensome on my mind to be a helper than a judge
It’s much lighter on my conscience to hold forgiveness than a grudge

It’s much warmer to regard the cold hearted with kindness and grace
To warm their heart with love because I don’t know what troubles they face

Not in any attempt to change them, but so I, myself may be changed
So my thoughts have pure intent and my motives are well arranged

I’ll be shocked by no evil, for we are all human and frail
Evil may befall anyone at any time and no one can tell

I stand only in amazement of the great expanse of God’s arms
No one can fall below His reach to be rescued from harm

I see not with eyes mere spotlights of faults and vanity
But with eyes of compassion and love for all humanity

Just as I must look to the trees to see the wind’s effects and where it blows
To see what my life has touched, I look for the places peace freely flows

I delight in my simplicity and I have nothing to lose
This is happiness and freedom, the life that I choose

In my short life these things have I not only spoken but lived
This is all I have to offer and my gift to the world I give