Crystal Ball

Letter 4494

I had plans upon awakening, in the dark of morning.

Tidy rooms, sweep stoop, weed garden. A full morning.

❖

Yet had arrived a message overnight. I was needed. I set out at dawn.

I was so certain, as I retired the night before, of what I would be doing.

Consider:

Can I accept the unknown of each day?

Reading:

❖ “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men / Gang aft agley.” — Robert Burns, To a Mouse

❖ “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.” — Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

❖ “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” — Proverbs 27:1 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Disarray

Letter 4493

I am to go on a journey today, yet I have found my dwelling in disarray. Something broke overnight.

Shall I walk on, knowing of the disrepair awaiting my return?

Shall I delay, and stay to remedy the broken system?

❖

I did not anticipate this choice.

Lord, let me stop, and try to discern your will at each fork in the road.

Consider:

Can I listen for your will?

Reading:

❖ “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart.” — Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

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

❖ “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” — Psalm 32:8 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Lost, Home

Letter 4492

I got lost yesterday, wandering along trails with which I was unfamiliar. I had gotten turned around, and was going in circles. I saw the same pair of trees with distinctive limbs three, four, five times. At one point, the panic was excruciating. Would I ever make it?

I found my way home.

❖

Today I set out on the same path, carrying paint. I am going to mark the trail for others. Let none experience what I did.

Lord, let me turn my experience to help others.

Consider:

Can I use what I learn for others?

Reading:

❖ “Traveler, there is no path. You make the path as you walk.” — Antonio Machado, Proverbios y cantares XXIX

❖ “I wanted to make you dependent on one another.” — Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue

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

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

~B.R.

Try

Letter 4491

Lord, you do not ask that I succeed.

That I succeed in righting what is wrong.

That I succeed in ordering my surroundings.

That I succeed in ascending this mountain I now climb.

That I succeed in finding you.

❖

I need only to seek you.

I need only try.

Consider:

Can I try today, without thought of success?

Reading:

❖ “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” — T.S. Eliot, East Coker

❖ “It is not what you are… but what you desire to be.” — The Cloud of Unknowing

❖ “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” — Galatians 6:9 (KJV)

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

~B.R.