There’s a line in an old U2 song that goes, “You’ve been running away / From what you don’t understand.” Bono is singing about love and telling us again and again in the chorus that “it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright.”

Whether it’s love or next steps or the how or the why, it’s natural and normal to feel a little lost in the swirl of uncertainty. It’s natural to want to run away or hide or even ignore what we don’t understand. It’s alright. That’s human nature.

Bono’s assertion is both a comfort and an encouragement. The song is saying that it’s okay, that your fear is understandable, relatable, familiar, common. And also, it’s alright, what you’re afraid of or don’t understand or can’t figure out or don’t know the why or the how of it all … that’s alright too. It’s an invitation to look into the mystery and move forward anyhow.

“To touch is to heal / To hurt is to steal / If you want to kiss the sky / Better learn how to kneel.”

To kneel is to be humble, to acknowledge all that can’t be understood, to feel in our heart the courage and curiousity that is bigger than certainty. To kneel is to pause and remember how some of our own actions, responses and decisions have surprised us. To kneel is to notice all that we don’t know and to be grateful.

Life is a mystery, and it’s alright.