My father’s father’s name was Clement. My mother’s father’s name is Charles. Though both made the Great Leap before I was born, I carry their names, their legacy’s and their blood line.
Many writers have inspired me. There top three are Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien. In particular I love Thomas Merton’s prayer.
I doubt I will ever call myself a writer. I am just a simple teller of stories. Stories that come to me from many places. All of them have bits and pieces that transcend what you see, hear, touch, and smell as a temporal life form on Terra, our earthly home. These inspired bits woven into the stories or missives you read come from There, the place of the Divine, where when we finally arrive, we’ll know we are truly Home.
Thomas Merton’s Prayer
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I 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 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 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.
Thomas Merton from Thoughts in Solitude.
First discovered when reading Merton’s book at least three decades ago. Say it often.
Proceeds will go to the parish, established in the mid 1800’s , now a one hundred and twenty five year old Church at the end of alleluia row, overlooking the great freshwater sea Michigan that has supported me for thirty years and to those in greater need. Expenses will be covered under net not gross income.
