Dear God, I have a difficult day ahead. I am afraid of what may happen, how everything will go. It is hard for me to find you, since so many thoughts crowd my mind.

Lord, let me truly rely on you today. I am only afraid because I believe myself to be the architect of my day. But the design is yours. My effort is properly exerted in seeking and doing your will. Let me not ask, “how can I succeed?” But instead, “what is your will for me?”

Grant me an understanding, in each situation, of what you would have me do. Let me relax when anxious, so that I might hear your voice.

So often you speak to me quietly, in a still, small voice. Let me listen. Sometimes your voice is that of another person. Let me listen for that, too.

Let me listen to learn your will for me. Let me not seek to understand your broader intent, just what you would have me do.

Grant me willingness to act according to your desire.

(msg817)

Dear God, what if I were to see you as my literal guide? Like a companion in the forest, advising me on the course to take, with my best interest in mind. You know the terrain – the pitfalls, the dangers, the glorious meadows, the broad vista points.

If I listen, you will direct me. At a fork in the path, you may advise one direction, for you know the dangers that lie in the other. Yet I stubbornly make my own decision and take the worse road. Even so, you do not abandon me.

You know this path I chose leads to some danger or a dead end – but you know of another fork I can take along the way that will lessen the burden. I make my choices, however poor they may be, and yet you stick with me. And when I obstinately run into some insurmountable obstacle, there you will carry me to safety.

Lord, when I examine my life, I find this truly has been my experience. Today, as I walk through it, let me try to listen to your guidance, yet also have faith that even my wrong choices can be repaired by your grace.

Let me understand how free this makes me. Let me understand how futile my worries really are. Let me understand how fundamentally you protect me.

(msg816)

Dear God, I have an awareness of my defects of character, yet I too seldom make an honest effort to overcome them. My pride, arrogance, and selfishness are all too often underlying even those actions which may seem wholly good.

As a selfish, flawed being, I cloak my self-seeking motives in robes of seeming purity.

Dear Lord, let me, at my core, in my honest, central self, become the person whom you would have me be. Let me be giving without seeking reciprocity. Let me have humility without seeking recognition. Let me be responsible without thought of reward.

Let me revel in seeking and doing your will today. Let me view all with whom I interact as having been personally delivered by you, each a special gift to help me improve my character. Thy will be done.

(msg815)

Dear God, on some dark mornings, I anticipate the day and would like nothing more than to have a suit of armor for protection. I turn to you seeking knowledge of what will happen, so I can steel myself. I know, however, that this is folly.

Indeed, I am happiest and most useful when I take the opposite approach. Let me be open and vulnerable. Let me not draw boundaries around myself, but instead see myself as connected to all circumstances in a web spun and woven by you. These are not entanglements, but blessings.

I wish to know the future but in your mercy you hide it from me. Let me see this for the gift it is.

In every previous event in my life, I have been taken care of. How dare I worry that you will abandon me, when a lifetime of evidence disproves this?

Let me run forward, not as an armored warrior to battle, but as a child toward joy. Toward you.

(msg814)