I posted this Sir Francis Drake poem / prayer on my blog 14 YEARS AGO, WHAT?! LITERALLY WHAT. I found it etched on the side of a Baptist church somewhere in Brooklyn, and every now and then it pops into my head, so putting it back up here, as it really bears repeating. For me, it's a reminder of how, when everything is fine, we learn nothing. When we surround ourselves with comfort we stop questioning. When we're only looking at our shoes, we miss the sky.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.