Dear Ones,

As we leave our January theme of Possibility for the February theme of Trust, I’ve been reflecting on how these can be linked. We all see multiple possibilities in life – how do we know which way to go?

Anne Lamott once wrote about her minister preaching on trusting in the Divine that the next step would become clear when it needed to appear. Lamott described the minister as demonstrating from the pulpit, moving one step at a time as if stepping from one stone to another.

Similarly, the Friends (also known as Quakers) speak of discernment as waiting for “the way to open,” and trusting that it will. Parker Palmer wrote that he’s learned that for him, more often ways close!

Even more, though, I think trust in this sense is related to faith – faith in oneself, faith that one will receive good advice, faith that things can work out well. My friend Ean Behr has made a lot of interesting choices in his life, including entering and then dropping out of seminary. Fortunately, he also contributed to the great repository of UU worship materials with these words:

“You are in the story of the world.
You are the world coming to know itself.
May you trust that all you will ever say or do
Belongs in the story of the world.”

In faith,
Rev. Lori Hlaban