Our collect for today brings to mind one of my favorite Bible passages:

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,

lean not unto thine own understanding.

An all thy ways acknowledge him,

and he will direct thy paths."(Prov.3:5-6, KJV)

I have found that to be true in my walk with the Beloved. Whenever I can surrender my control over any situation and entrust the circumstances into God's hands, I find the rough places are made smooth, alternatives appear, reconciliation happens. I hope that has been your experience. The first time I was brought to the end of my tether was the hardest to endure. I thought it was my responsibility to see it through my way. I was sure that the world would come to an end if I gave up. Finally, the Beloved got through to me, and I was able to "let go and let God" as they say in twelve-step programs. It was like the sun coming out after a violent thunderstorm. What a joy!

That was probably 35 years ago. Since then, I have had a lot of opportunities to surrender going my way and to come to trust in the Lord. "Practice makes perfect," they say--so today it is far easier for me to accept that Everything Belongs (Richard Rohr) and to trust that God "will direct my path" through whatever wilderness comes my way, just as the Holy One did for Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

Jan Karon, in her novels about the Episcopal priest in the North Carolina mountains, says that the prayer that never fails is "Thy will be done." Fr. Al Durrance of the Order of Saint Luke (OSL) adds the phrase "Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else" to that prayer. I pray that prayer every day along with Fr. Thomas Keating's "Welcoming Prayer" which begins with "I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment because I know it is for my healing." I can pray those mantra-type prayers because I do trust in the Lord with all my heart. In my experience, I have found that God is indeed faithful.