For the past three months, I’ve been delivering to you, every Sunday, an article primarily focused not on your physical or mental fitness, but your spiritual fitness.
I hope you have been enjoying these so-called “Sabbath Ramblings.”
However, I am now shifting gears and plunging deep into the throes of a new book…
…that is…
…you guessed it: focused on your spiritual fitness.
As a result, you’ll find the next several week’s Sabbath Ramblings to be a bit of a hiatus from long-form content and instead to be one quick snippet, word of wisdom, or spiritual discovery.
So let’s start here.
Whenever I find an inspirational quote, I either add it to the screensaver list of quotes on my computer, turn it into a giant mug (such as my Theodore Roosevelt “Man In The Arena” mug, or my “Who Am I?” mug), or into a large wall poster for my office.
The poster I’ve been pondering quite a bit lately hangs directly to the right of my office door. It is a prayer by Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion:
“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 that 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 will I 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.”
So what does this prayer mean to me?
In short, trust God.
Follow the path He lays out before you.
And do understand that God draws straight in crooked lines. The road that got you here won’t necessarily get you there. Embrace the zigzag and just trust.
Now I’m curious. What does this prayer mean to you? I’m also curious if you have your own quotes, prayers, or inspirational sayings you have personally found meaningful of late. Leave your thoughts, comments, and questions below. I read them all.
