Letter 4453

Can I walk out into the world from my rooms, in full expectation that joy will greet me like the doves and foxes?

Or am I to struggle and drag a despondent outlook along with me?

When the world laughs yet I am morose, it is a bitter pill to swallow.

❖

Let me adjust my attitude, to greet the bright sun that has already arranged the day.

---

Consider:

Can I accept joy today?

---

Reading:

❖ “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” — Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur”

❖ “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” — Henri Nouwen, Here and Now

❖ “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” — John 16:24 (KJV)

---

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Letter 4452

I must make a journey today, so I consulted a forecast to learn what the weather might be. The news was mixed: storms are possible. Yet the skies look clear.

How can I prepare when the future is a maybe?

Am I to carry extra clothing just in case? This adds to the burden. What if it is unnecessary, and I left home without something else I may need?

❖

It is a temptation to stay home.

Lord, let me learn to trust in you, that I may carry what I need yet also find what you provide along the way. All this time spent worrying over the clouds — let me instead begin the walk.

---

Consider:

Can I trust in you today?

---

Reading:

❖ “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.” — Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque (“El Dorado”)

❖ “Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.” — John Henry Newman, “Lead, Kindly Light”

❖ “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” — Ecclesiastes 11:4 (KJV)

---

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Letter 4451

All night, I could not stop thinking about my project.

A fine box, dovetail joints, polished walnut. I am putting my all into it. I imagine new means of joinery and finish.

This was meant to be a concrete form of devotion, work with my hands, and it has overtaken its purpose. It has become an end in itself.

❖

Lord, is this a worthy preoccupation or has it become an escape? Let me see clearly.

Grant me a life without self-distraction, Lord.

---

Consider:

Can I pay attention fully?

---

Reading:

❖ “It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?” — Henry David Thoreau, letter to H.G.O. Blake, 1857

❖ “We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him.” — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

❖ “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” — Colossians 3:23 (KJV)

---

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.

Letter 4450

How many miracles will I see today?

The day is filled, if all comes from you, Lord. The frogs in the ditch, the green growth, the breeze. Even these small things are miracles, arising at your direction.

What of my inner life? Is it, too, filled with miracle upon miracle?

❖

A new piece of knowledge, a compassionate insight, a changed heart. Miracles.

Let me be ready for miracles.

---

Consider:

Can I see the miracles unfolding all around and within?

---

Reading:

❖ “Why, who makes much of a miracle? / As to me I know of nothing else but miracles.” — Walt Whitman, “Miracles,” Leaves of Grass

❖ “A portent, therefore, happens not contrary to nature, but contrary to what we know as nature.” — Augustine, The City of God (XXI.8, tr. Dods)

❖ “Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number.” — Job 5:9 (KJV)

---

Thank you for for reading. If this helped you today, please consider sharing it.

~B.R.