Can I capture them?

While putting away my night clothes, a thought came to me. But the time I had finished, I could no longer recall it.

Walking the grounds, the idea I had moments ago has vanished.

❖

Were these thoughts unimportant, Lord? Or did you note them, with love, and might you deliver to me all my desires, even ones I forgot I had?

Even my fleeting thoughts are precious to you, Lord. Let me treat them so.

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Consider:

Can I be more attentive to my inner life today?

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Reading:

“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”

— Marcus Aurelius

❖

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.”

— Francis de Sales

❖

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!”

— Psalm 139:17 (KJV)

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Strength not my own.

I am a hidden seed, covered by earth I did not choose, yet to be nourished by rain I cannot summon, with nought to do but wait for growth.

What I grow into and become may be as mighty as an oak. Would that strength then be mine?

❖

Let me accept and rejoice in my dependence on you, Lord, here under the earth.

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Consider:

Can I live fully dependent?

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Reading:

“The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”

— Robert Jordan

❖

“I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

— Saint Paul

❖

“So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”

— 1 Corinthians 3:7 (KJV)

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More ways than I can see.

The gate would not open. I pushed and pulled. I walked the fence line looking for a break. The latch was bent beyond my strength.

I stood in the road, counting what I did not have. Better tools. Another pair of hands.

Beyond the hedge, a narrow path wound toward the field. I had passed it many times. It led where the gate would not.

❖

Why do I believe the only way forward is the one I have already imagined?

Lord, show me the path I did not know to look for.

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Consider:

Can I trust your solutions exceed my imagination?

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Reading:

“We do not know what is possible; we only know what we have seen.” — Wendell Berry

❖

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” — Corrie ten Boom

❖

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” — Isaiah 55:8

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Devotion and skill.

Is living a skill I would learn, like framing a door?

A craft, like furniture building?

A devotional practice?

Could this day be all those things?

❖

I can do my chores efficiently. I can seek to cook an evening meal to remember.

I can live this day as a gift to you, Lord.

Skill, craft, devotion.

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Consider:

Can I live devotionally today?

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Reading:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

— Will Durant

❖

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”

— Shunryu Suzuki

❖

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”

— Ecclesiastes 9:10 (KJV)

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