Into your hands I place my life, O God.
Take me and plant me like a seed.
Deep in the earth does the acorn know what it will be?
The seed breaks open and dies
in order to become what is unknown
but intended all along.
So we each live in the darkness of our own night.
Seeds in our shells, we must die to ourselves,
in order to come to new light.
So, O God, plant me deep in your love,
break me open to see me free.
High on the hill, rain falls into a stream.
It flows to the river and then to the sea.
Like water on water, we are one
and we join with our own.
As we’re loved by the Father,
we love one another.
This is the journey home.
Pilgrims at heart, we hear God’s call.
The journey is all.
Love is the way to begin.
So into your hands, I place my life, O God.
Take me and plant me like a seed.
A prayer by Vicki Armour-Hileman. Reprinted with permission from A Maryknoll Book of Prayer, edited by Michael Leach and Susan Perry (Orbis Books 2003)
Vicki Armour-Hileman is the admissions manager of Maryknoll Lay Missioners. She is the author of Singing to the Dead (University of Georgia, 2002), a book about her experience as a Maryknoll lay missioner (Class of 1988) serving refugees in Thailand.
This is a beautiful reflection/prayer, Vicki! Thank you!
Beth Rademacher, Brasil 1983
Vicki, I would love to connect with you! Your ALT-mate, Mary Mallahan Hicken (class of 1981).