Dear God, even when under restrictions and pressure, I have infinite possibilities before me. I can act in myriad ways – so many of which are selfish and self-seeking. Let me please have the willingness to act as you would have me do. Let me be willing to exert myself in furtherance of your will. Show me the way.

My path gets narrower as my relationship with you deepens. I see you holding me to a higher and higher standard; what used to be acceptable no longer is. This is true both in action and in intent. I see my selfishness in more and more areas, and so see more and more areas for improvement.

Let me have ever more willingness to be my higher self, the one that is in your image. Let me eagerly shed my selfish inclinations. Let my motives and actions improve.

(Letter #862)

Dear God, let me be gracious today. Kind to all. Inwardly, I so often have resentment and feelings of superiority. These are poison. Let me be a kind person both in action and word, but also in attitude. Let me sincerely desire that others be showered with blessings.

Let me not be small and mean-spirited. Let me be big. Let me have joy and spread it, among enemy and friend alike.

Let me love those whom I consider to be against me. Let me raise them up, and diminish myself. This is what you call me to do. Let me do thy will.

(Letter #861)

Dear God, I fear the day, for no reason. Sometimes I know I face tasks that challenge me, but this morning that is not so. There is nothing remarkable about this day, yet I worry.

Lord, I realize nearly all my worries are unsubstantiated. I live a life of anxiety. You would have me be calm and helpful, yet I willfully fret over every little thing. God, please give me a better attitude. Grant me the faith and willingness to see your will done in this world, on this day.

Let me be eager to do your bidding. This worry is of no use, it paralyzes me. Let me dive into your work.

(Letter #860)

Dear God, I am grateful for so many gifts you have placed in my life. A devoted partner, a loving family, a steady job, a healthy body, colleagues who respect me. Can I be grateful for the challenges too? Can I see my trials and difficulties as a means of strengthening?

Lord, let me not wonder why things are as they are – let me thank you that it is so. Let me see your hand everywhere.

Let me do your will today.

(Letter #859)

Dear God, you grant me so much power to do your will, but I must also do my part. Effort is required; the tasks will not do themselves.

Sometimes, too, your will is for me to rest. My body and mind must be restored for further effort.

I so easily fall into the trap of believing that I must labor continually. This is its own form of selfishness and disloyalty. It assumes that I alone am responsible for results in the world. Lord, you require that I do your will and no more.

You love me. I know this. Let me trust in you.

(Letter #858)

Dear God, you deliver me from all calamity, worry, trial, care, hardship. You take away what is bothersome. You grant me strength to face all that comes my way. Even when I fear what seems insurmountable, even when woe presses in upon me, I weather the storm and upon its passing I am calm and safe.

In such times, let me properly ascribe my well-being to you: it is your gift to me. Grace.

You granted me strength to persevere, and you now grant me ease.

Let me not squander this gift. Let me pass it on to another. Let me be a flowing, clear river, and not a stagnant pool. Let your love flow from me to my fellows.

May your will be done today. May I seek to make this so.

(Letter #857)

Dear God, a large task faces me today. There is no evading it. I am frightened. But I do not face it alone.

Lord, let me count those things for which I am grateful. Let me consider all the ways that you support me. I have a hale body, a clear mind, a loving partner, a secure job, sufficient resources, a family that loves me. I have a faith in you that grows daily, when I used to wander in a desert, feeling alone.

Whatever trial you deliver to me today will not be more than I can bear. You will provide, as you always have. Let me trust you fully.

(Letter #856)

Dear God, I awaken today asking what you would have me do. What is your will for me? But I know: it is to share your love with all.

You deliver to me such ease and power! I am to pass this on, such that those around me feel the same joy. The joy of being at ease. The joy of knowing we have all the power we may need to act.

Yet, Lord, my selfish, small self yearns for recognition. Can it be that your will for me is nothing more involved than being kind to all? Don’t you have greater things in store? My secret self wants glory and attention.

Let me, my dear sweet Lord, see your path for me as exalted. To do your will, even in seemingly small and everyday things, is the highest calling I could imagine.

Let me be willing to seek humility. I will come into contact with other people today. I can work to improve their lives, to ease their spirits. You call me to do this. Let me devote myself to this wholeheartedly, intensely even. Like a woodworker, making small and beautiful crafts of immense use. Chairs, tables, boxes. I do not need to fashion a glorious building or carve a magnificent statue – indeed, these things may find less use and be less helpful than perfectly-wrought, everyday objects.

Let me be the devoted craftsman, fashioning gift after gift for my fellows, each filled with love and attention. Let me see the constant, repeated delivery of your ease and power as each in itself a great deed.

Lord, let me be grateful! You grant me the luxury of your grace. I need only look at these gifts from you to feel your joy.

Let me pass it on.

(Letter #855)

Dear God, in the quiet, dark of morning, I am at my best and at my worst all at once. Filled with fear for the day, my imprisonment in self is on display. At the same time, with the space and time afforded by solitude, I easily intend to wish the best for those around me. As the day wears on, the fears lessen but so, too, does my willingness to abandon self. I react.

Lord, let me take this willingness to seek you with me throughout the day. Let me be as deliberate at noon as I am at dawn.

When there are choices to be made, let me first consider how others might be helped. Let me place my selfish welfare and comfort last, dead last.

Lord, you pour sunshine down on all of us. Let me bring others into the light and let them feel your warmth – doing this diminishes nothing. We will not run out of sunshine!

Let me look under rocks and in caves for my fellows, and take their hands, and gently guide their steps out into the light. Your light. Warm and heal us, O Lord.

Let me do your will today. Only your will.

(Letter #854)

Dear God, I face trials. I muster my strength. I marshal my forces and prepare. I build myself up emotionally, inwardly, so that I have the energy to overcome. And I pray for power, for your power, to face these things.

Lord, all these things are futile. I am praying wrongly, seeing the world wrongly. I cannot know your plans for me. I only know what is before me.

Rather than strength to battle the world, O Lord, grant me willingness to do your will. Let me do your will, regardless of consequence to self. Let me be willing to listen, listen, listen – and hear what you are saying to me.

Maybe you intend for me to accept aid from others and learn humility. Maybe you intend for me to experience anxiety so that I can better understand others’ worries. Maybe you intend for me to fail and learn gracefulness. Maybe you intend for me to succeed and tell a story of overcoming.

Lord, let me seek and do your will today. Let me not be so self-sufficient.

(Letter #853)