Letter 4392

Sleeping by the shore of an alpine lake on the way to a distant village. Water laps against the stones in the dark.

Worry hums in my chest. The lake keeps its work.

Morning will burn this off. Rise, break camp, walk. The body knows: movement heals.

❖

The way asks only for a next step.

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Consider:

Can I be on the way?

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Reading:

❖ “It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.” — Wendell Berry, Standing by Words

❖ “Rest from inordinate desire of knowledge, for therein is found much distraction and deceit.” — Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

❖ “They shall walk, and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Letter 4391

A trickling creek twisting through the field, grass overgrown along its edges.

So easy to step over. So small and quiet.

Let me try to build a home over it. Let me try to fill it in.

❖

What is flowing through me that will not be ignored?

Even the small, quiet things have power.

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Consider:

Can I listen to my own power?

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Reading:

❖ “I learned that you could not go back to simplicity once you had moved away from it, but you could go toward something new, which contained the old as a river contains its tributaries.” — Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

❖ “The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out.” — Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness

❖ “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.” — Psalm 46:4 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Letter 4390

Walking the forest path, a fallen log across the way. Two trees framing either side, their branches meeting overhead: A door.

My heart tightens. What waits beyond?

I have stood at doors before. Some I have pushed through in fear, and found sunlight on the other side. A gift I might have missed.

❖

Why do I forget this? Why does each door look like the last impossible one?

Lord, let me trust the grace that has met me before. Let me knock, and enter, and find what you have waiting.

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Consider:

Can I walk through the door?

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Reading:

❖ “Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.” — Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

❖ “There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself.” — Howard Thurman, Baccalaureate Address, Spelman College, 1980

❖ “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it.” — Revelation 3:8 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Letter 4389

Walking the forest.

The light finds me before I find it. Shining straight down at noon, it illuminates what was already there.

Without this light, all would have remained unseen. Without this light, I would have remained hidden.

❖

Was I ready to be found? I was not seeking it.

Lord, make me willing to stand in the light.

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Consider:

Can I find the strength to be counted today?

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Reading:

❖ “Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher.” — William Wordsworth, The Tables Turned

❖ “To be unknown to God is altogether too much privacy.” — Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

❖ “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” — Psalm 27:1 (KJV)

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

~B.R.