Letter 4380

The forest beside which I live was there long before me. It will be there after I am gone.

I did not will myself to existence. The life in my heart, it came from elsewhere.

In my quiet room, I struggle to create. So many discarded attempts. Is anything worthy of an audience?

❖

Let me, Lord, approach these lines as I do the forest. They were always here, I simply through them and try to see their beauty.

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Consider:

Can I see the beauty already here?

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Reading:

❖ “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.” — T. S. Eliot

❖ “The woods are lovely, dark and deep.” — Robert Frost

❖ “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.” — Proverbs 16:1

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

~B.R.

Letter 4379

Though support is not in view, it is there for me. Must I ask?

What supports the meadow? Does it ask for the ground underneath to press upwards?

What supports the mountain? Must it ask to rise so high?

Does the bird ask for the wind to hold it aloft?

❖

Is doubt the way to faith? Or does gratitude move the world?

Let me trust I will have what I need.

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Consider:

Can I trust I will have all I need?

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Reading:

❖ “Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.” — Rabindranath Tagore

❖ “You do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. / You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” — Mary Oliver

❖ “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.” — Matthew 6:28

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

~B.R.

Letter 4378

The land speaks for itself. The mountain, the stream. The woods.

What does the land say?

“I was here of old. I will be here tomorrow. I will be here seven generations from now.”

My heart speaks for itself. What does my heart say?

“Draw near to me, Lord, for I am not complete without you.”

❖

Let the land on which I now stand contain everything my heart needs.

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Consider:

Can I draw near to you, Lord?

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Reading:

❖ “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

❖ “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu

❖ “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” — James 4:8

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

~B.R.

Letter 4377

We spent the night in this summit hut. Three neighbors on a journey.

One companion spent a windswept night gripped in fear. One marveled at the sounds and majesty on display. One worried over whether they would reach their destination.

❖

Same mountain. We saw in the dark night what was already inside of us.

If i can thus control my circumstances, Lord, last me see beauty and gratitude in your works.

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Consider:

Can I see beauty today?

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Reading:

❖ “We see the world, not as it is, but as we are.” — Stephen R. Covey

❖ “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” — Henri Bergson

❖ “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

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

~B.R.