Two Prayers

All day I think about it, then at night I say it: Where did I come from and what am I supposed to be doing?
 I have no idea – my soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that and I intend to end up there.
 Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

Rumi

I just ran across the above verse from Rumi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalal_ad-Din_Muhammad_Rumi and like the tone from a crisply struck bell, it rang clear and true, resonating in my mind, ultimately trailing off into silence.

On the other side of the silence was the memory of a prayer by Thomas Merton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton that I had discovered during the years leading up to my father’s death. One of my father’s fondest wishes was that I would “come back” to “the” church. Perhaps my attraction to prayers (of all kinds and from all traditions) is a subconscious effort to respond to that wish. I believe God’s greatest test of humanity is whether we can see and sincerely accept the common threads among our differences and have that be enough.

Thomas Merton’s Prayer

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 that 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 although 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.