The graces of my October silent retreat continue to deepen in my life.  One of these graces comes in the form of the song by John Bell, “Take, O take me as I am”.

At the end of each day, we would gather for mass, and this song was our communion reflection on multiple occasions.  While on retreat, the words of the song resonated profoundly with me as I begged God to take me as I am.  I begged God to find me within my tiredness and exhaustion and summon out whatever God intended for me.

On returning home, though, the song has become a powerful prayer tool for me as I pray for others.  I captured my thoughts in my recent dotMagis Post:

Now home, these lyrics continue to seep into my life and in my prayer for others. As a mom, I find myself asking God to take my children as they are and to summon out what God desires them to be. I pray for my children to know God lives in them. At the same time, I pray the more challenging prayer that I can take my children as they are and accept fully who God intends them to be, not who I want them to be. This prayer turns from my children to my husband and then to family members and friends. As a spiritual director, I find myself praying these song lyrics for the people who open their lives to me and allow me to witness the intimate work of God in their lives. This song finds itself in my preparatory prayer before they walk through my door, and I find the lyrics in my head as I listen to the sacred stories of their lives.

I continue to pray the words of this song for myself, for those in my life, and for all of you!

Becky Eldredge

Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She is the author of the Busy Lives and Restless Souls (March 2017, Loyola Press) and The Inner Chapel (April 2020, Loyola Press). She helps others create space to connect faith and everyday life through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, through writing, and through spiritual direction. With nearly twenty years of ministry experience within the Catholic Church, Becky seeks to help others discover God at work in the every day moments of people’s lives by utilizing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the many gifts that our Catholic faith and Ignatian Spirituality provide.