Upwards

Letter 4514

There is a path that leads up the mountain, accessible from the walkways of the forest across my field. Thus have I direct access to the summit.

Do I walk that way with any frequency? I have only been two or three times. Even with easy access, it is an arduous journey.

Yet the way is open and clear. On any day, I can choose to go upwards.

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Does this make the choice not to all the more troublesome? Or does the ease with which I could somehow bless me ever more?

Let me act throughout my day with the knowledge that your heights are mere steps away. I live under your gaze.

Consider:

Can I choose the higher way, in all things today?

Reading:

❖ “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

❖ “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” — Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day”

❖ “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 3:14 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Name

Letter 4513

Our village is named for a figure from many years ago, who owned the land on which we sit. Long since have they passed into memory, and the estate has been divided into parcels kept by us all.

This small garden, this modest dwelling, which is mine, stands on land that used to be part of something larger.

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Before me, even before the one whose estate named this place, people walked the grounds. It was a way station for exchange between many nations. It had its own name.

This land I walk, this home I keep, let me do so in honor of the ancient ones who walked here.

Consider:

Can I respect the many generations that came here before?

Reading:

❖ “The Bible says the earth is the Lord’s, and the deed has never been transferred to any of us.” — Wendell Berry, “Wendell Berry on Sustainability, Citizenship and Becoming a Native”

❖ “Land is the residence of our more-than-human relatives, the dust of our ancestors, the holder of seeds, the makers of rain; our teacher.” — Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Greed Does Not Have to Define Our Relationship to Land: On Choosing to Belong to a Place”

❖ “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.” — Ecclesiastes 1:4 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Light

Letter 4512

There is a hum coming from somewhere; I hear it as I walk the early neighborhood.

Is it the thrum of machinery from a factory on the edge of town? In the early morn I hear many things from far off.

Is it my own physicality, vibrating with energetic health? I awakened ready to move the world.

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Let my eye be single, devoted to seeking your will, Lord, and thus fill my body with light.

Let me be the hum.

Consider:

Can I feel your spirit filling me today?

Reading:

❖ “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” — Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur”

❖ “There is a crack, a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in.” — Leonard Cohen, “Anthem”

❖ “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” — Matthew 6:22 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Waiting

Letter 4511

Will conditions improve tomorrow? They are not yet as I would wish them.

The grounds are not yet fully repaired. The garden does not yet give all its bounty. Family is not yet whole.

Not yet.

Here, as I sit in devotion, am I not, though, whole of myself? Content am I, on this cushion.

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For what do I wait? Conditions do not touch me in this moment. Were the grounds to be repaired, I would still sit in the mornings.

Let me not wait to feel your peace, Lord, when it is offered already.

Consider:

Can I accept your peace?

Reading:

❖ “Past and future veil God from our sight; burn up both of them with fire.” — Jalaluddin Rumi, The Masnavi

❖ “The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.” — Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching Peace

❖ “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” — John 14:27 (KJV)

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

~B.R.