Dear God, let me see the abundance already around me. Let me walk cheerfully through the woods today, hearing birdsong and smelling the earth.

How small yesterday’s worries now appear! Let me view today’s troubles from tomorrow’s vantage point. These, too, will shrink to nothing. Tomorrow I will forget what pains me today.

So let me spread cheer, dear Lord. I already live among your bounty.

(Letter #1,595)

Dear God, I blind myself with my own self-regard.

On awakening, I think about my desires for the day. As I walk your pathways, I distract myself, digressing into needless pursuits – while my duties go undone.

Where are my thoughts of you? Where has my devotion gone?

Lord, rule my thoughts. It is my thinking that takes me away from you, and leaves me here, alone and lonely.

Rebuild my foundations, Lord! I have too long been walking on sand.

(Letter #1,594)

Dear God, need I wait for your aid? Surely not if I am your child. You created me with all the capabilities I may need. And yet I wait, in the face of worry, hoping for rescue.

Lord, let me stand erect under your sunshine. Let me be, fully, whom you have built and called me to be.

Others look to me today for guidance. I fear the role. Let me approach them with compassion. Let me seek to be useful today.

Grant me awareness, Lord, of the capabilities I already possess.

(Letter #1,593)

Dear God, these fears, these termites coursing through my day, let them crawl away from me. Shine bright sun upon me and cleanse me of rot. Let me stand erect on a wide plain, unconcerned over the attention I might attract.

Show me how to give up my will, O Lord. Let me move only by your command. Let me abandon my own designs.

I am so willful, and when seemingly obedient. Help me to be your servant, Lord.

(Letter #1,592)

Dear God, if I am your child, you love me even in my weakness and falling-short. I may have tried and failed; some things, even, I do not attempt to start. My defects are so glaring. Yet you beam at me like warm sunshine.

I busy myself, striving, working to show all my gratitude.

Let me instead, Lord, walk with ease and feel your love today.

(Letter #1,591)

Dear God, how shall I live a life of expectancy? How shall I view this day as a gift? How shall I express gratitude?

Let me not simply mouth the words of thanks, nor appreciate only the pleasant moments. Let me see even pain, Lord, is a sweet gift chosen just for me.

The rescued one owes the rescuer. Guide me, Lord, to repay the debt.

(Letter #1,590)

Dear God, I awaken. Dawn approaches. The world stirs. The scent of growth is in the air.

Day upon day, Lord, I have walked singly, eyes downcast, avoiding stones in my path. When I have raised my eyes, it has been in fear or worry. What next? I hope for ease, but this is no true hope: it is grasping.

Today, ease has stolen in upon me, a night visitor. Today, I walk with eyes on the horizon. I have no need of hope, Lord, you have already equipped me with ease.

This world I wear loosely. I look to the day’s edge not in desperation but with expectation. No rescue is necessary.

O! Let me meet fellows on this pathway, that I may share this gift of ease. We have all we need for the day.

(Letter #1,589)