Almost Always

Letter 4384

Walking this path worn into the edge of the field. I almost always stop at the same wall to rest and take in a view.

Awakening alone in my dwelling, I almost always first drink a cup of water before starting the day.

Laboring in the garden, I almost always wear the same hat, as the sun is bright up here.

❖

Almost always.

What of the days I do not? A different path may take me a new way. Perhaps I may drink juice in the morning. Perhaps I may enjoy the bright sun.

Even in the midst of habit, I can choose anew.

Consider:

Can I choose again?

Reading:

❖ “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

❖ “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” — Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

❖ “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” — Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Healing

Letter 4383

The limb broke, and where it knit back together it is stronger than before.

Healing can bring new strength and growth.

❖

My broken places, my desolate places, my empty places — Lord, heal me of them, let them grow into strengths, that those I would help may see hope.

Let me heal, that others may heal.

Consider:

Can I heal?

Reading:

❖ “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

❖ “He said not ‘Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted’; but He said ‘Thou shalt not be overcome.'” — Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

❖ “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” — 2 Corinthians 1:4 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Who I Am Supposed to Be

Letter 4382

Working on spring cleaning of the garden, I am safe as I clear away brush, pull out dead weeds, and turn the soil. Simple tasks, difficult to get wrong.

Knowing what to plant, when to plant, how to plant — these are beyond me. My talents lay elsewhere.

❖

Inside, in quiet, devoting myself to you, I am alive, my heart quickened.

Let me be whom I am supposed to be, Lord.

Consider:

Can I become myself?

Reading:

❖ “To thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man.” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet

❖ “A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying Him.” — Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

❖ “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Worker Among Workers

Letter 4381

Does the sun shine only on my cabin? My neighbor’s home is in the same field.

Does the rain fall only upon me? The whole village is drenched.

At the barn-raising, is it my hammer that makes the difference? All the nails are the same.

❖

I am neither greater than, nor less than.

Lord, let me be one of many today, a worker among workers.

Consider:

Can I be one of many?

Reading:

❖ “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” — John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

❖ “We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.” — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

❖ “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” — 1 Corinthians 3:9 (KJV)

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

~B.R.