From Unwilling to Willing

Letter 4421

I lock up my home, door barred to visitors. I draw the shades so none can see in. I fold my arms at the chores beckoning from the field and barn.

The battle without for which I had been preparing is a battle within. I struggle to move from unwilling to willing.

❖

So many times have I been here. Let me unlock the door, open the windows, step onto the grass with open hands.

Melt the icy wall in my heart, Lord, and make me willing to do your will.

Consider:

Am I willing?

Reading:

❖ “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” — William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

❖ “The mind commands the body, and it obeys instantly; the mind commands itself, and is resisted.” — Augustine, Confessions

❖ “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” — Luke 22:42 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Small Efforts

Letter 4420

Will the day contain great deeds or small?

Working in the garden, the efforts all bend toward the small: weeding, digging with a hand shovel.

Raising a barn, the work is large: great beams, walls, a roof.

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Later, is not the satisfaction from each the same? My labor showed results.

Let me not judge myself in my own work, Lord. Let me take satisfaction in offering all to you.

Consider:

Can I devote even small things to you, Lord?

Reading:

❖ “The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” — George Eliot, Middlemarch

❖ “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

❖ “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.

So Much

Letter 4419

There is so much to do in my rooms — cleaning, mending, reading, writing — that opening my door to look outside feels like a burden.

Yet without, the sun shines, early birds sing, and healing beckons.

❖

Am I not better served attending to the reality of the world than the state of my dwelling?

Let me walk outside, Lord.

Consider:

Can I appreciate the gifts of the world today?

Reading:

❖ “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” — Mary Oliver, Red Bird

❖ “By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us.” — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu

❖ “For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” — Song of Solomon 2:11–12 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Body and Soul

Letter 4418

I feel the strength you gave me as I walk the grounds, and find all the things that will require effort. Stones to be moved, wood to be cut and stacked, a dwelling that needs to be cleaned.

With satisfaction, I know I am up to these tasks.

❖

Can I direct my strength, Lord, towards my spirit? So much progress is yet to be made, and these tasks feel insurmountable. How can I overcome self?

Lord, let me direct my energies toward becoming whom you would have me be.

Consider:

Am I willing to work on my soul today?

Reading:

❖ “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

❖ “The outward work will never be puny if the inward work is great.” — Meister Eckhart, Talks of Instruction

❖ “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” — Ephesians 3:16 (KJV)

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

~B.R.