Dear God, guide my thoughts. They are so unruly. My mind jumps from plan to plan; always selfish, always focused on what I can achieve or attain. My actions may be correct, but I know my mind concocts a fantasy world in which you are an afterthought.

Dear Lord, so often I seek from you strength or some other material support. Too seldom do I ask you to control and bridle my thoughts. Let my inner life be peaceful and directed toward you today.

As I think, so I do. Let me have more thoughts of service, more thoughts of true faith in you. Fill me with your love. Let my thinking be correct, that my steps may follow.

Thy will be done.

(Letter #882)

Dear God, let me show my faith in you through my actions today. Let me be an obedient employee, a loving partner, a kind friend, a compassionate parent, a graceful leader. Let my sole ambition today be to be useful and responsible. Let this be the song of praise I sing for you.

Worries creep at the periphery of my attention. Jackals, pacing around the firelight. Lord, let my works be bright. Let me be attentive to what is before me, and take comfort in the safety you deliver. If I do your will, I find relief. Out in the shadows are ghosts, with no substance.

Let me act in the here and now.

(Letter #881)

Dear God, I am so changeable; you are an unchanging source of power and love. On each day the correction I need differs. One day I need my spirits bolstered. Another, I need to be taken down a peg. These lessons and supports you send me are always tailored to my particular situation and I respond to them variably.

Lord, you watch over me. I regret the past; I worry for the future. Today, you shine upon me and you tell me, if I will but listen, that nothing will arrive today that I cannot handle. I am up to the tasks, because you have prepared them for me. Just for me.

Lord, let me approach you as my father, as a child before you. I ask, what will we do today? Let me ask with excited anticipation.

Let me be a doer of your will today, not just one who hears and does nothing. Let me act today, overcoming inertia and sloth.

Let me run, seeking fields in which to sow your love. Your loving hands support me. Let me spread the news of this to those who despair.

Thank you for your loving embrace.

Dear God, let me be the proper size today. I so enjoy the feeling of imagining myself larger and greater than I am. The truth is that I struggle with a selfish, small spirit. I am ungenerous, ungraceful, and intolerant at my core. I cannot remove these attitudes by simply thinking; my thoughts themselves are twisted. I must rely on you.

Lord, my Lord, grant me some small measure of improvement. Fill me with your love, that I may spread it to others. Let it blot out my selfish, defective habits of thought.

Let me willingly draw near to you, Lord, for I know by experience that you will in turn come near to me. Overpower my defects and make me your instrument. Let me do your will today.

(Letter #879)