"Proceed as the way opens..."

"I do not ask to see
the distant scene --
one step enough for me..."

This version of "Lead Kindly Light," takes my breath away.

Sometimes I feel the urge to get out ahead of the moment. To manage potential risk by securing promises, guarantees, outcomes -- even from God. I want to know "how" something is going to work out, where the funds will come for a project, or whether there are obstacles in my path that I can anticipate and avoid.

Today I was talking with a friend about this very thing. She shared with me a phrase I hadn't heard before. And from the moment I heard it I wanted to have it tattooed on my heart:

"Proceed as the way opens..." 

Immediately I felt a deep and abiding sense of pure peace about how to proceed. When I arrived back at the office I searched for its origin. It didn't take long to discover that it is a Quaker axiom which is defined as:

"To undertake a service or course of action
without prior clarity about all the details
but with confidence that divine guidance
will make these apparent,
and assure an appropriate outcome." 

It resurrected my trust in God's hand in all things -- rather than my own. It helped me remember that every step -- preceding the one we were facing -- had come without bidding. And that all we'd ever done was place our foot on the next piece of flagstone as it appeared. It reminded me that I had trusted. And that all along the way, I'd prayerfully surrendered to this line from a much-loved hymn:

"I do not need to see
the distant scene.
One step enough for me..." 

Nothing had changed. It will always be about where I am placing my trust, who I think has the reins in my life, and in every moment's unfolding -- of all things. It was never, is not, and never will be about a particular outcome.

In Hebrews we are urged to look to "faith" [from the latin: fidere - or "to trust"] as the substance of things hoped for,"the evidence," of things not seen. This trust in God -- as the only Cause and Creator in our lives -- is all the evidence I will ever need to be at peace in each and every moment. Mary Baker Eddy gives us this promise in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

"Security
for the claims
harmonious and eternal being
is found only
in divine Science." 

Security is found only in our understanding of the nature and character of God's Love -- His omnipotent care for each of us, Her always-present guiding of our hearts' desires -- in the choreography of each steps in this great dance of being, by a Divine Choreographer.

This is the only guarantee, the only security, the only assurance worth banking on.  Trusting that God is the only one opening the way, and waiting for that way to be revealed -- step-by-step -- is a sacrament.

shared with affection,

Kate

[photo credit: Kateriina Agnes Fagering]