A Poem

By my cousin Patti Carey, struggling with cancer in her 30s:

Let It Go

Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold;
The holding of plans or dreams or expectations –Let it all go.
Save your strength to swim with the tide.
The choice to fight what is here before you now.
Will only result in struggle, fear and desperate attempts to flee
From the very energy you long for. Let it go.

Let it all go and flow with the GRACE
that washed through your days
whether you receive it gently
or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith: The mind may never find the explanations that it seeks,
but you will move forward nonetheless.

Let go, and the wave’s crest
will carry you to unknown shores,beyond your wildest dreams or destinations.
Let it all go and find the place of rest
and peace, and certain
transformation.

Phillips Brooks asks us not to pray for easy lives but to pray that we might be stronger women and men:
Pray not for tasks equal to your powers.
Pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Then the doing of your work will be no miracle
But you will be a miracle.
And every day you will wonder at yourself,
At the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.
(Herald of Gospel Liberty, 1920)

When I heard this quote Sunday I had the impression it was from Martin Luther King, Jr. It turns out instead to be from the author of "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," a 19th century Massachusetts clergyman named Phillips Brooks. I still find it inspiring to me both in my own struggle and for what we face as a nation and a world.