Without Staring

Letter 4474

A fresh morning, approaching my garden. There are weeds to be pulled and rows to be dug, but most of it grows well.

Can I see the flaws, looking clearly without staring?

What is the story I will tell? A story of shortcoming and work to repair it? A story of great success?

Can I give a true account that accepts both?

❖

Let me walk through this day with equanimity, Lord, accepting all that is, without additional judgment.

Consider:

Can I accept your day?

Reading:

❖ “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same…” — Rudyard Kipling, “If—”

❖ “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.” — Seraphim of Sarov

❖ “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” — Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

As They Seem

Letter 4473

Is what I see, what is?

The sun beats down on a vast green meadow — as I approach I find marsh and wallows.

The glint in the distance, that looks like a fence — a watering hole.

❖

What might I be missing, closer, beneath my eyes? A world inside the smallest thing.

Let me not assume all is as I see.

Consider:

Can I be open to discovery?

Reading:

❖ “To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour.” — William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”

❖ “We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time.” — Thomas Merton, from a recorded conference at Gethsemani

❖ “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” — 1 Samuel 16:7 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

Battles

Letter 4472

Walking from my bed to the front room, I already see things I would change. Clothes out of place, a dish left out.

As I sit in devotion, before the window, I see the glass needs cleaning.

In the garden, overnight came the rabbits who eat the leaves of my tomatoes.

❖

By day’s end, am I weary from fighting battle after battle with a world that slowly disorders? Or do I stop to discover:

A sunset, glorious in its red hues spreading across the horizon.

Let me not fight every battle, Lord.

Consider:

Can I leave today’s battles for a later time?

Reading:

❖ “It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?” — Henry David Thoreau, letter to H.G.O. Blake, 1857

❖ “Let nothing disturb thee; let nothing dismay thee: all things pass; God never changes. Patience attains all that it strives for. He who has God finds he lacks nothing: God alone suffices.” — Teresa of Ávila, “Nada te turbe”

❖ “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)

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

~B.R.

The Trail

Letter 4471

What part of the pathway troubles me? The rocky incline? The unshaded and exposed high switchbacks? The narrow cliff edge trail? Even the summit poses problems of wind and exposure.

It all melts away on my safe return home.

❖

Why did I go on the journey? Could it be to feel the warmth of homecoming?

Consider:

Can I accept today’s journey?

Reading:

❖ “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” — George Moore, The Brook Kerith

❖ “The hill, though high, I covet to ascend; the difficulty will not me offend, for I perceive the way to life lies here.” — John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

❖ “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” — John 14:2 (KJV)

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

~B.R.