I am tired. And busy. And overwhelmed.
On my best days I don’t pretend to know how (or even if) prayer works. So when I get like this, I am unsure what to pray or even how to pray. And after some of the stuff I see at work, there are times I wonder why I even bother.
A while back, I was reading Thomas Merton’s Thoughts in Solitude and came across the following prayer. I am praying it a lot these days.
MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Amen. Praying for you and with you, Hugh.
Have that book as well and that prayer has been the words for me when I’ve had none. Love it. Thanks for sharing.
That Merton guy sounds like he was pretty sharp.
beautiful!
One of my favorite works from one of my favorite writers and thinkers. This is a prayer by which to live. Thanks for sharing with others, Hugh.