Challenges

Lord, sometimes I wish
you'd quit challenging me.
You're always at it.
Everytime I turn around,
You've got a new one
for me.
And your challenges
have a way
of turning everything
upside down.

They force me to change things
I'd like to leave alone.
They make me do things
I've never done before.
They knock all of the
complacency
out of me.
They're unsettling.

Forgive me, Lord,
for wishing you to stop
daring me
to learn,
to grow,
to give myself away,
to love,
to live.
Without those challenges
of yours
I'd die.

~ From Souveniers of Solitude by Brennan Manning