Merton: Third Step Prayer
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me... 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 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.—Thomas Merton in Thoughts in Solitude (1956).
Fork in the Road Camp McDowell
I share many prayers with spiritual friends, and this is one of my favorites. I especially love to pray it along with friends discerning how to become the person God created them to be: when deciding on a vocation, making life-changing decisions, or simply trying to live in the present, one day at a time.
This prayer has similarities to the Third Step Prayer (p. 63 in Alcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book): “God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of Life. May I do Thy will always.”
These are prayers of surrender to each day, to whatever God puts in front of us for that day. It is a prayer about realizing that trying to be in control of our lives is driving us crazy. It is a prayer about learning that we cannot control our lives, but something greater than ourselves is available to guide us. When we turn our life and will over to God, “we will know a new freedom and a new happiness,” as we have never known before. (p. 83, “The Promises” in Alcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book).
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/