A prayer

Here's a prayer of Thomas Merton which we give each spring to our graduating high school seniors. It's just as appropriate now as they head off to college or a job. As a matter of fact, it's a prayer for any new beginning, and for those who care for others making a new beginning...

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 my self,
and the fact that I think 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 not leave me to face my perils alone.

-Thomas Merton