Journey Prayer
God bless to me this day,
God bless to me this night,
Bless, O Bless, Thou God of Grace
Each day and hour of my life;
Bless, O bless thou God of grace
Each day and hour of my life.
God, bless the pathway on which I go,
God bless the earth beneath my sole;
Bless, O God, give me to Thy love,
O God of gods, bless my rest and my respose;
Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,
And bless, O God, my repose.
~Carmina Gadelica, collected by Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912).
In Holy Solitude, Lenten Reflections with Saints, Hermits, Prophets, and Rebels, Heidi Haverkamp, tells us solitude is a "a radical choice to see and value your life in the way God does, that our being is more important than our doing."
Radical choice, indeed. I like the phrase, "we're human beings, not human doings," yet I wrestle with the tension of being and doing. Part of the problem, I think, is I believe the sorting out of this dilemma is all my responsibility.
I wonder what it would be like if I asked God to bless me and the pathway I am on, to bless my rest and repose. That prayer holds the tension for me.
I ask God to bless, hopeful my heart is open to receive the blessing, I continue to walk and rest. It has all the elements of pilgrimage and the Lenten season where I collaborate and cooperate with God, who provides what I need for the journey.
Be Thou My Vision, "Joy Comes in the Morning," May 22-25, 2018.
Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne and Iona, "Beyond These Shores,"
Sept. 2-12, 2018.