Here is an interesting quote I came across today.  I was just wondering the other day if I had grown wiser with age or simply tired.  Why was I no longer trying to change the world?  Maybe this says it...

A wise, old Middle-Eastern mystic said this about himself. “I was a revolutionary when I was young, and all my prayer to God was: ‘Lord, give me the energy to change the world.’ As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: ‘Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me. Just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.’ Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: ‘Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life.”

— Paul J. Wharton, Stories and Parables for Preachers and Teachers (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1986), p. 31