After posting this prayer a few weeks ago, a wise friend asked if I would expand a little about this prayer and why it resonates so much with me. Thomas Merton was a contemplative, a mystic and a Trappist monk from the 20th century and his writings are so honest, open and real to me. This prayer came from his book, “Thoughts in Solitude.”
For much of my after 50 life, I have been wondering what God’s will is especially for me. I think that I am following it, then things change or don’t work out and I start wondering again. Matthew Linn, S.J., writer and healer, says that God’s will is always giving and receiving life and love to God, yourself and others. Sounds simple. But I still spend a lot of time wondering if I am doing it right. I am sure that you, too, have wondered from time to time whether you are following God’s will and plan for you. Do you sometimes feel like you are floundering around trying this or that just to see if it feels right? In major life decisions like marriage or job changes and in little day-to-day decisions like whether to minister to a friend or volunteer at a mission, or to stay home and have some quiet time to just “be.” You may feel like you are running in 20 different directions and feeling like you are not accomplishing anything significant. In all these circumstances, we can just stop and say this prayer and everything will be all right again, because He knows we take winding roads in this life of ours, we aren’t perfect and that’s OK. He is always there and loves us just as we are. Here is the prayer:
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. -Thomas Merton from Thoughts in Solitude
Jane Springer is a certified Life, Wellness and Style Coach who assists women in taking care of themselves, in body, mind and spirit. She coaches women who want to lose weight, avoid diabetes, and feel great. She also helps them thrive after divorce. She also helps them to clear their closets of old clothes and outdated attitudes, so they can shine and feel confident.