Dear God, what are my instructions? I fear not knowing the right course of action just as much as I fear lacking resources. When a crisis comes, I often know what to do. It is in the smaller situations, the day to day challenges, that I am unsure.

Lord, let me listen. Let me be willing to hear and to do your will. When I believe myself the most free, with the most options open to me, that is when I must seek your guidance and discipline.

Lord, let me be willing to have humility. Let me do your will in all things today.

(Letter #851)

Dear God, I have awakened early and completed some of my obligations. Laboring in these dark hours brings a feeling of usefulness and devotion. My labors are for you, O Lord!

This morning I am studying the book of James. He insists that faith without works is dead. His writing calls me to understand that this prayer, this contemplation, this faith I have and profess – these are not enough. He calls me to work in this world, work on behalf of others.

Lord, let me understand this obligation you place upon me. Let me see coasting, resting on my laurels, as not just indulgent but in fact wrong.

Shirking my duty of charity is wrong. Avoiding the obligations that attend to me leaves my faith dead.

Lord, let me seek out ways to work on your behalf today. Let me not passively let such opportunities come to me, but actively create them. You hold high expectations of me. Let me be the servant you require.

(Letter #850)

Dear God, every day is the same length. When I face each one I gaze out upon an equal duration. Yet some days stretch before me as a yawning chasm and I am filled with fear and misgiving. Others appear short and I wish they were longer. Some seem filled with too much to do; others empty.

Lord, let me see these all with the same, even attitude. Each day is filled with moments, and you stand beside me at each one. Let me trust that you will provide enough strength and resources, moment by moment, to act as you would have me do.

I may be fearful of what I anticipate coming my way, but in reality it is almost always just one or two things that I fear. An isolated task I am unsure I can do. Yet I allow this one moment, which may not even occur, to cast a shadow on the whole day.

Lord, let me live in a series of moments. Let me not think of the day ahead but of the one single thing that faces me here and now. Let me act in this present moment exactly as I ought, your obedient servant. You have already delivered to me exactly what I need, right here. Let me recognize it.

Today, let me be kindly to all I greet. Every single moment, let me carry your message of love. Show me your will – not later but right now, just as you always have done. All I need do is listen and trust. Let me do so with a grateful heart.

(Letter #849)

Dear God, I place myself at the center of almost every circumstance. Constantly, I wonder how I can improve my position, what will befall me, how will I feel. This line of thinking takes over before I realize it. Without even trying, I have shoved to the side all my big talk about seeking your will and trying to help others.

Lord, it is so easy to intend. Let me carry this intention through the day. Let me truly place others’ welfare ahead of my own. Let me diminish my own standing. Let me act contrary to my own instincts.

Let me, Lord, move to the margins and place you at the center of my understanding.

I will only be able to do this if I slow my responses. My reflexes are not humble ones. Let me pause and pause again. In the space, let me ask: What is the contrary action? What is the opposite of my instinct?

Let me seek to be small, that my devotion to do your will may grow large. Thy will be done.

(Letter #848)