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 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 can 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/