Here in Three Rivers, we have a tradition of reading a poem or a blessing before our shared meals, and so we keep around a variety of collections of short meditations. One that I’ve appreciated has been Dialogues with Silence, which combines prayers and drawings from Thomas Merton. The collection opens with this one, which serves as a very centering reminder amidst our efforts to raise funds, meet goals, organize special events, recruit volunteers and all of the many tasks that come along with growing our work here:
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, Dialogues with Silence
