Self-pity drives me to seek rescue from the most trivial of days. What may befall me? A neighbor will visit. An errand must be run. These are the things from which I shrink.
You, Providence, will supply. Will it be in the form of relief, or of energy to meet conditions?
The sun rises, Lord. I will greet it.
(Letter #2,347)
Is peace the goal or the means to draw nearer to you?
In this Alpine meadow, far from the din of the village square, my heart relaxes and I feel you next to me.
Would the crowded market be equally worthy as the placid lakeshore, if my ears were trained to hear you even there?
I wait and pray for conditions to change that I may be with you. I dared not think that, all along, you were inviting me to change to meet conditions.
Let me feel your presence even in chaos, Lord.
(Letter #2,346)
Day by day and year by year, I have become rooted into earth. The wind bends me but I remain.
Let the songbirds come and sit singing on my branches; let my neighbors find shelter underneath.
Let them build a swing upon me and laugh together, Lord. How better to pass the day than to listen?
Your sentry, unseen.
(Letter #2,345)
My lips say, “peace, peace.” What does my life say?
Do I bring peace or chaos with me?
Let me be a balm to my fellows, and heal the breaches around me.
If I am to bring peace, I must be it. Let me be peace.
(Letter #2,344)
When I can do so little, let it be enough.
When I can scarcely move, let nourishment come to me.
When they ache, let my meager words ease others.
Let my little be enough.
(Letter #2,343)
Creeping vines o’erspread the flowerbeds.
Wildfire smoke darkens the sky.
One or two pulls, and within days there will be blooms. Walking the burnt mountain paths, fresh buds cover the blackened branches.
Life, peace, side-by-side with chaos.
Lord, ease my heart.
(Letter #2,342)
What is the season in which I find myself?
Is it a time of testing, when I am asked for proof of my reliance upon you? Is it a time of teaching, when I will learn from failure atop failure? Is it a time of relief, when I will breathe a sigh after so many close calls?
Is it, yea, the time of rejoicing over the shower of gifts and bounty that encircle me?
Lord, your day is all things and my choices are infinite. All is indeed your will. Let a bright spirit motivate me, that I may shine for others.
(Letter #2,341)
When I am distracted, are you still here with me? Do you turn away calamity even while I indulge myself?
Lord, let me be grateful for what I do not see.
(Letter #2,340)
At dawn under birdsong, I pray for what I need. In storms, I ask for shelter; when hungry, I seek nourishment.
How can I know what I need? My perspective is so narrow.
Do I need shelter, or better garments? Do I need food, or the awareness that comes of fasting?
O Lord, provide what I need, and grant me grateful acceptance.
(Letter #2,339)
For too long I have seen myself as the architect of my own rescue. I have enough for the day’s march yet I fret over tomorrow’s meals. It is summer days, yet I am despondent that winter will come.
Today is filled with providence, most of which remains unseen. I never saw the robber whose heart you turned; the avalanche that never began.
Resting in your palms, let me walk buoyed through the day, this day.
(Letter #2,338)
