The prayer on page 89

About 20 or 25 years ago, I purchased a very tiny, pocket-sized book entitled Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton. Of all places, I purchased it from a rack near the cashier's stand at one of the Smithsonian's gift shops (cannot remember which museum, though). I purchased it for one reason -- this prayer that I found on page 89 as I thumbed through the book.

"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."

This is, without doubt, THE prayer that has touched me most profoundly over the years. It speaks of absolute trust in God, even when we cannot see where we are going or why we are on that particular road. It speaks of a plan for each of us that is much bigger than our little individual worlds.

The little book where I found this prayer keeps getting lost in the house (in fact, the book has gotten lost in every house I've lived in since I purchased it), but it ALWAYS turns up again without my looking too hard for it. And it falls open to page 89.

- Catherine