Jesus is with you. Give him your hand.

Jesus is with you. Give him your hand.

Some years ago our church told our life stories to each other. Our pastor encouraged us to draw and then paint what we would have as the book cover for our life story. Drawing is not a my strength but I attempted to draw a path that curved in the distance, with brightness around the curve. The image was to portray the fact that our lives are like paths that twist and turn, full of happenings we cannot foretell, but we know one thing: Jesus will be there, wherever the path leads.

The more we live, the more we know that there could be something totally unanticipated right around the corner. It could be something wonderful - a new baby, a promotion, a good grade, praise from someone whose judgment we value, a deep feeling of peace, a great opportunity. Or it could be something sad - a friend is diagnosed with cancer, we ourselves become sick, someone we love dies, we lose our job, we lose our savings, we find out someone we trusted betrayed us, depression descends. We just don’t know.

All we can do is trust that Jesus will be there, walking beside us every step. I thought of this when I heard the last line of this poem by Rainer Maria Rilke.

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,

then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,

go to the limits of your longing.

Embody me.

Flare up like a flame

and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.

You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours, I 59

Hear Krista Tippett reading and talking about it here.

​What can I pray for you?

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