When it comes to blogging, I have to confess that I have no idea what I'm doing. Frankly, I don't have a clue. In fact, were it not for my wife and two clergy friends, I wouldn't have even gotten this far. But isn't that what life is like? For the most part, as we journey through life, we don't always know what we're doing, so we rely on loved ones and trusted friends to help us and teach us and guide us as we go.
I see this reality lived out before me every day as our six-month old, Anna Faith, totally relies on her Mommy and me in ever conceivable way. At this point in her little life, she has no idea what she's doing or where she's going or even what she needs to get there. Indeed, who she will become and what she will become will be, for the most part, determined by how well Faith and I do our jobs.
But it's not only in our infancy and childhood that we need this kind of care and help and support. We need it thoughout our entire lives. Personally, I am fortunate--blessed, really--to have gotten it from a myriad of people at what seems like every major stage of my life.
One such person was inducted into the SC Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Sunday, Tommy Davis. I have known him since I was a little boy, but in the very formative years of high school, he was for me a teacher, a mentor, and, obviously, a coach. I'll write more about him in a later post. But for now, suffice it to say that I give thanks to God for people like Coach Davis who cared when he didn't have to, taught beyond what was required of him, and helped guide a great number of teenagers like myself down the right path when sometimes, we didn't even have a clue that there was a path.
As I think about Coach Davis, Anna Faith and this blog, I can't help but see what they all have in common: they remind me that we humans weren't meant to "go it alone". God did not intend it to be that way. Instead, at all times and in all places, we need one another. We need one another to help us, to care for us, to love us, to support us, to teach us and to guide us. Because goodness knows there will be times, from birth to death, when won't have any idea what we'er doing. Or where we're going. Or even how we'll get there. And we will need someone to gently, lovingly, help us out.
Of course, as thankful as I am that Coach Davis was there to do that when I was a teenager, I am even more thankful that God is there--God is here--right this very minute--as God has always been and always will be--gently, lovingly, helping me out. Helping us out. Even when we don't have a clue.
The late Trappist monk Thomas Merton once wrote a prayer that expresses this sentiment better than I ever could:
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 my 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 though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I 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. Amen. - Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
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