Day 2: Choosing Your Coracle

A Week of Drifting · Day 2 of 7

The story. The Voyage of St. Brendan tells how, after days of hard rowing, Brendan told his weary monks to stop. Ship the oars and the rudder, he said. Leave the sail up, and let God do as he wills with his servants and their boat. And so they drifted, island to island, for years.

The reflection. Notice what Brendan did not do. He did not abandon the boat. The drifting happened inside something with edges: a hull, a sail, a crew. The Irish river boat was called a coracle, small and round and just big enough to hold a person. It is a good picture of this prayer.

Your coracle is a boundary. A length of time: twenty minutes, thirty, the walk from the train. A place: the park, the block around your office, the long way home. Choosing it is the only decision the prayer asks of you. And here is the surprise: the boundary is what sets you free. Because the edges are fixed, you no longer have to keep deciding. The boat holds you, so you can stop holding yourself.

Today’s invitation. Make your way home your coracle today, or part of it. Decide where it begins and ends: the office door to the car, the bus stop to your front step. Say the six words, Lead me; I care not where, and then stop planning the route in your head. Take the turn that draws you. Go a little slower than you need to.

A question to carry. Where could you set a small boundary in your day, and let it hold you?

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