Vanity is a too-sweet sugar,
coursing through my veins.
I lap up praise like a starving dog,
although it never satisfies.
Humility and silence are healthier foods,
giving nourishment to the soul.
They won’t make one famous,
but they’ll lead to a worthier goal.
I find I’d rather engorge on candies,
than thrive on my spiritual veggies—
growing sickly on pride and conceits,
a soul’s diet of empty calories.
I’m addicted and enslaved to these strivings.
I’m dulling and dimming by my desiring,
to be worshipped rather than to be worshiping,
ambitions estrange me from holy living.
Vanity leads onward to vanities,
obscuring our wits from reality,
preoccupying our minds with inanities,
and filling them full with strange fantasies.
Resist, desist, foolish humanity,
satisfaction is won through humility!
Put down all your sickening vanities,
and take up noble silence instead!
~FS
Prayerful Life 