The Important and Unimportant

God, our Father, forgive us that we so often give our best to the wrong things.
Sometimes we put far more enthusiasm and thought and effort into our pleasures and our games and our amusement than we do into our work.
Sometimes we keep our best behavior for strangers and our worst behavior for our own homes; and often we treat our nearest and dearest with a discourtesy and disregard we would never show to strangers.
Sometimes we get irritated and annoyed and angry about things which in our calmer moments we know do not matter.
Sometimes we lose our temper in an argument about trifles.
Sometimes we allow very little things to cause a quarrel with a friend.
Help us to see what is important and what is unimportant, so that we may never forget the things that matter, and so that we may never allow the things which do not matter to matter too much.