Surrender

This from a prayer by Thomas Merton caught my attention today:

“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 really doing so.”

This is so strong in its surrender that it is startling.  Still, it rings true in a “let’s get the obvious out of the way.  You are God and I am not” kind of way.  And that seems like a good start to any prayer, one better stated than not lest I fall quickly into the trap of making prayer my magnanimously choosing to serving God in an advisory capacity by giving God my list of what I think he ought to do.