A WING AND A PRAYER
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Hello friends, Life gets in the way of writing but I’m going to really try to get back to it. Thanks for being here and being so loyal.
I always feel like September is really the beginning of the year rather than January. Getting school supplies, seeing Halloween decor in stores, college football on Saturdays, a hint of Fall in the air - well, not that last one yet, not in Charleston anyway - all can be seen as a fresh beginning.
Typically, this is the season, I end up saying YES to too many requests! My niece, Megan, has had an amazing ministry for 10 years called the Cole Collection. She invites vendors to a yearly event of selling their wares to women who buy tickets, to wander through and shop, while having taste treats. The money goes to buying gifts (which she has purchased and wrapped!) for the foster children in her town. Their motto is “Find a Need and Fill It” - seems simple enough.
I was feeling the need to fill a big gap at our church - Women’s Ministry! There is something so amazing about women helping women. I began to mull over the idea of getting something going (which I honestly do every year and then get too busy). I was not sure this was the right time either. A few days later, I was having lunch with my friend, Rachel. She has three boys (just one more to be like me!), the oldest starting kindergarten, the youngest not yet one. She has chosen something very unusual this day and age. She’s a stay-at-home Mom! Which is not easy as most of us know. I was getting ready to ask her to be my partner to lead a much-needed women’s ministry at our church when she said this: “I’ve decided on making three things my priority this year. If I’m asked to do something that doesn’t relate to one of those, I’m going to say ‘no'.” Hmmm…. Women’s Ministry did not fit in for her. What a great idea. Three priorities - let me think. I think I’ll give up on the women’s ministry idea. Yet… as soon as I got home, I received a text invite for coffee from another friend, Anne. She goes to my church too. Over coffee, she said, “We have GOT to get women’s ministry going.” Apparently, I can’t hide. God is calling me! I’ll let you know what happens.
Lastly, I’m finding this a good time to go room to room and collect anything I can find to throw or give away. My place is TOO small for all this STUFF! I’m so sick of stuff.
In my cleaning out, I came across the prayer you see below. It is on a yellowed, dog-eared, scribbled on piece of paper. I’ve had it for a million years and have no idea who gave it to me. But I love it. I should memorize it and say it every day for the rest of my life.
According to Wikipedia, Thomas Merton was “…an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative literature.” That’s pretty impressive. This prayer is included in a book he wrote in 1954, the year I was born. But it is totally relevant today. Hope you like it too.
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 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
-Thoughts in Solitude †††
©Abbey of Gethsemane, Trappist, KY
More coming soon, friends. Enjoy your September and great beginnings! XOXO