QuoteProject
I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.
Mother Teresa
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes a shift in perspective about prayer from seeking external help to seeking internal strength and guidance for action.

Mother Teresa expresses a profound evolution in her understanding of prayer. Initially, she focused on asking God for interventions in the world, such as feeding the hungry, but she has come to realize that the true essence of prayer lies in seeking personal strength and guidance. This shift highlights the importance of self-empowerment and the recognition that prayer is not merely about changing external circumstances, but about transforming oneself to effect change in the world around us.

Themes

PrayerChangeStrengthGuidanceSelfAction

In practice

Example use cases

During a speech about community service, one might quote this to inspire others to take action.

More from Mother Teresa

The way to plan the family is natural family planning not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self, and so it destroys the gift of life in him or her
Mother TeresaRead
I believe in person to person; every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is only one person in the world for me at that moment.
Mother TeresaRead
Purity is the fruit of prayer.
Mother TeresaRead
If your Eyes are Positive, You will Love the World. _x000D_ But if Your Tongue is Positive, The World will Love you.
Mother TeresaRead
The poor are great! The poor are wonderful! The poor are very generous! They give us much more than what we give them.
Mother TeresaRead
The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.
Mother TeresaRead

Similar quotes

Don't worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.
Clayton ChristensenRead
This is a ruthless world and one must be ruthless to cope with it.
Charlie ChaplinRead
Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
John KeatsRead
Focus on remedies, not faults.
Jack NicklausRead
Faith draws the poison from every grief, takes the sting from every loss, and quenches the fire of every pain, and only faith can do it.
Jeffrey R. HollandRead
We cannot choose how many years we will live, but we can choose how much life those years will have. We cannot control the beauty of our face, but we can control the expression on it. We cannot control life's difficult moments but we can choose to make life less difficult. We cannot control the negative atmosphere of the world, but we can control the atmosphere of our minds. Too often we try to choose and control things we cannot. Too seldom we choose to control what we can ... our attitude.
John C. MaxwellRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.