Instrument of Peace

My church denomination sends me a devotional each day via email. I wish I could say that I read those devotionals every day no matter what because I got it for God like that, but I can't. Honestly, I read about half of them. And about half of those I read very quickly without taking much time for reflection or life application. However, I came across a devotional the other day that captured my attention. I actually spent more than the usual 30 seconds reading it. The devotional featured a prayer by St. Francis (I'm assuming of Assisi) that read:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy

I was so moved by the prayer that I folded my hands, closed my eyes tight and, in the most pious voice I could muster, said "Oh, dearest Lord. Lettest me be an instrument of thy peace too, especially to the poor, desperate, hell-bound souls at work."

To which God responded, "Yeah, right."

Nevertheless, the very next day, I was handed an opportunity to be that instrument of peace.

One of the sales reps from another office called me to complain that one of the reps in my office had called on one of her accounts. I could tell that she was trying to be nice about the whole situation so I calmly explained to her that our rep received a list of inactive accounts and was asked (by our boss at the time) to call on them. The offended rep mentioned that she had talked to the client several months ago and they had expressed an interest in running an ad for the same dates that our rep had scheduled them for. She then added, "But I guess if she called them, then that's okay," signaling her willingness to drop the matter.

But her co-worker, someone who has a reputation in the company for being greedy and not a little bit unscrupulous, didn't want her to give up so easily. I could hear the heifer. . .I mean, the poor, desperate soul. . .in the background saying, "No, no, no, no, no!"

To my peace-making credit, I told the rep that if she had an issue she should probably take it to our boss. She agreed and we pleasantly ended our conversation.

But my diplomatic efforts ended there. The second I hung up the phone I moved from an being an instrument of peace to being an instrument of dissension.

I can't believe her! I could hear [unscrupulous sales rep] in the background going "No, no, no, no, no." [Offended sales rep] inherited that account from me. The only commissions she's collected are for ads that I sold! She hasn't even worked that account and now she's complaining when someone else does?!?

Oh, I was Miss Mouthy, and my co-workers were my captive audience. Instead of contributing to a harmonious environment, I was giving my co-workers (most of them new to the company) negative impressions of other employees. I caused them to be as mad at the other reps as I was, creating offense where there previously was none. I'm guessing this is not what St. Francis meant by "instrument of peace".